Structured Language: Caveat Emptor!

Why Structured Language Works Against You

The Health IT industry is pushing an approach that will force doctors to express themselves using discrete data instead of normal language.

We think they're crazy!

An EMR should make your life easier, not more complex.

If you believe that the current Levels of Service requirements are insane, just wait until your EHR forces you to use ”structured-ese” rather than normal language to express your medical thoughts. When documenting medicine, absolutely nothing beats using regular language.

Of course, as a physician you probably agree, or otherwise you would have gone to Engineering School!

For a full discussion on Structure Language and its detrimental effects on Medicine, please click here

The following is a critique of Structured Language by David More MB, PhD, FACHI

In his blog, Doctor More quotes Professor Alan Rector from Manchester University:

"Unless we can formalise the mutual constraints ... HL7 v3 + SNOMED = Chaos'. 'The documentation is beyond human capacity ... to write or to understand'."

For a wonderful presentation of Professor Alan Rector's lecture, please download the following (MS Windows ® Powerpoint): click here

By viewing this amusing presentation, you will see immediately why structured language will not work... And, if you cannot follow the presentation, you will also see immediately why structured language won't work!