About Liz Seegert
Liz Seegert is an independent health journalist and AHCJ’s topic leader on aging. She covers older adults, baby boomers, health policy, and social determinants of health, as well as many other health issues. Her bylines include stories for PBS/NextAvenue.org. the American Journal of Nursing, TIME Health, Medscape, Consumer Reports, and Medical Economics, as well as dozens of other trade and mainstream media. Her articles have been syndicated in Forbes.com, the Los Angeles Times, the Hartford Courant, the Saturday Evening Post and other major outlets.
Is computerized medicine all it’s cracked up to be? Or has it so dramatically eliminated the human factor that we risk doing more harm than good?
That was the premise of Wednesday’s AHCJ New York City chapter meeting with guest speaker Robert Wachter, M.D., professor and associate chair, department of medicine and director, division of hospital medicine, at the University of California, San Francisco. Wachter provided the backstory of his hospital’s switch from analog to digital systems, how this process has hurt peer and patient relationships – and very nearly killed a 12-year old boy.
Wachter said he was excited about the push for computerized medicine a decade ago. “We had this grand idea that they [computers] would solve everything.” However, he since has come to believe that was that although computers are transforming his profession, it isn’t always for the better. Continue reading →
Liz Seegert is an independent health journalist and AHCJ’s topic leader on aging. She covers older adults, baby boomers, health policy, and social determinants of health, as well as many other health issues. Her bylines include stories for PBS/NextAvenue.org. the American Journal of Nursing, TIME Health, Medscape, Consumer Reports, and Medical Economics, as well as dozens of other trade and mainstream media. Her articles have been syndicated in Forbes.com, the Los Angeles Times, the Hartford Courant, the Saturday Evening Post and other major outlets.
The Center for Excellence in Health Care Journalism, the educational arm of the Association of Health Care Journalists, has been awarded a grant of more than half a million dollars to strengthen the knowledge and skills of health care journalists.
