Doctors ask engineers to spend more time in the hospital before building apps

I work in the public sector of Denmark, and I’d recommend doing this. The companies who hire actual domain knowledge and listens to it are simply miles ahead on making software that doesn’t suck for the end-users.

It would be better if we allowed departments to build their own software, because our in-house software is honestly the only stuff that truly does the job right, but I don’t see that being prioritised. So having contractors hire a few doctors is probably the best we get.

From my Spanish Perspective.

What fraud? Going to the doctor is literally useless unless you're ill.

They will literally send you away home if they find you to be fine. The doctors and nurses and personnel and what have you will also get mad at you for wasting their time unjustifiably (and I've done this myself and oh boy they left an impression on me).

If you mean Government fraud, from the ones planning the system yes, indeed, all documentation about how much a healthcare center "costs", how their location and capacity is decided, and etc... should be open and easily accessible to the public.

Medication is partially subsidized and never given for free at a medical center or hospital unless it's an emergency, older than 65+, disabled, etc...

Recently, the government ordered to make like 1200 common meds cheaper (link in Spanish) https://cadenaser.com/ser/2018/12/29/sociedad/1546084258_187...

This is so true.

One of my previous professional experience was working for a company that delivered a complete hospital information system that was used in two of the biggest health institutions in the Middle East.

Initial software development was done offsite, but then, the owner and CTO of the company thought it more wise to bring in the developers on-site. On-site here meant that our team was provided an actual area in the hospital where we were given freedom to observe, collect and synthesize as much information related to the system we were building.

One major challenge we faced was that, for example, we have three doctors all specializing in the same category, i.e. cardiologist. All of them would have different ways of wanting how the technology will support their process. One would want information laid out in a different manner, with quicker access to other information he need from other facets of the system. There's just no way to standardize a specific process. This lead to us delivering solutions that allow the doctors to customize as much as they can of the application based off their preferred procedures.

Being there in the hospital itself I would say has tremendously helped the team deliver a lot of innovative functionality that I have still yet to see at this day and age. I was interfacing HL7 data with Siemens and GE Radiology and providing the doctors to automatically perform dictation through Philips Dictaphone - where the recording is sent to an offshore transcription company in Asia, and the data returned and tied to the actual radiology exam it is designated for - all under intense security, compliance, and anonymity.

I've also observed through working in different hospitals, there is a lot of variations in the workflows, hence the necessity for engineers to actually be present and on-site. This provides the developers a real-world picturesque view of what needs to be built that will make every hospital staff (doctors, nurses, aides) become very productive.

Stanford Health has exactly that: they are called “Flow Managers” or something similar.

I will see your anecdote and raise you one. :)

When I was an American military wife, I mostly just flashed my military ID, made an appointment, picked up my meds, etc.

I was diagnosed with atypical CF in my mid thirties and some of the things I was prescribed were not on the formulary of the military hospital. I went in town and had a co-pay of (IIRC) $13 per prescription. One day, I tripped across an old receipt: More than $1200 worth of pills with a $39 co-pay. Probably three months worth of digestive enzymes.

I was also seeing a specialist at a clinic at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. I had been a few times when I noticed a sign prominently displayed on the front desk announcing that they would not see you if you owed money. I asked the person at the desk if I owed anything as I had never paid them anything at all. Surely, I owed some co-pays.

She checked my records. Nope, I didn't owe anything. I was all good.

Well, that was weird. But I was fighting for my life, so I shrugged and moved on with my life. I didn't have the energy to figure out what had happened.

Some years later, I was talking with folks on a CF email list and, silly me, I remarked that "I guess the CF Foundation picked up the co-pays or something." People vociferously informed me that, oh, no, that is not what happened. That's not something they do.

No clue why I was never billed at all by UC Davis Medical Center. But I (apparently* ) wasn't.

I don't know how the military handles it. But when I was a military wife, no, I generally did not see medical bills of any kind.

* I was extremely sick. It's possible my husband paid the bills and I just didn't realize it. But I don't think that's what happened.