Example of EMR unusability - finding the correct order

Just an example of why current EMRs are so unusable is the difficulty in searching for the appropriate order in CPOE.  Just as an example, a few years ago I tried searching for normal saline in a popular EMR implementation:

• "NS" - failed search
• "Normal saline" - failed search
• "Saline" - failed search
• "NaCl" - failed search
• "Sodium chloride" - successful search

About halfway through that search list is when I wanted to throw the computer across the nursing station.

An EMR company may defend such results, saying that it is the client who is responsible for creating the orders and synonyms.  But my dictum is "Never let the client have a bad configuration."  Another way of saying that is, "Never let the client make your EMR software look bad."

Or "Don't invite comparisons between your software and Vista/CPRS".


EMR vendors should provide basic synonym support for orders.  And in addition to that, it should provide an automated test system, where each of these search terms is entered in and the results are evaluated for the expected order type.