What inspired you to join the technology industry?

In theological circles, and especially in theological schools, there's a lot of talk around “call” and a sense of “calling.” But, ask a programmer about “call” or “calling” and you'll probably hear about using a functions or object-methods.

When I read about Google's Code School Learning Opportunity I knew I wanted to apply. Code School issues Open Badges!

The open-ended, final question on the application took me by surprise: What inspired you to join the technology industry? Wait a sec! Did a tech giant just ask about my “call story”? Yeah, I think so.

I have my doubts about whether a human at Google will actually read my application. If the filtering algorithm looks for compound and/or complex sentences, there might be a chance. However, I know there are humans that will read this post. So, I'll also share my technology “call story” with the handful of folks curious enough to click the link in an email or a Tweet.

A year and a half ago, I encountered an electronic health record system for the first time. After only a couple minutes in the consulting room, tense silence interrupted the usual, easy conversation. I watched, appalled, as my psychiatrist fought his way through the clunky, poorly sequenced fields of the e-prescribing interface. An engaged healthcare consumer, I quickly voiced my concern, mitigating the effect on our treatment relationship. This relieved the immediate anxiety I felt as a patient, but my concern as an advocate held fast. What impact would this technology have on those who already feel disempowered by the healthcare system? How would it affect the health of people at the margins of society?

A half-dozen years earlier, I'd left web application development to pursue a graduate degree in theology, focusing on social justice. The two fields scarcely touched, and in social justice theology, I found the kind of passion I'd seen—but, despite my aptitude, never experienced—as a programmer. Likewise, I scarcely looked back, even after leaving theological school without a degree.

That afternoon, as I watched technology that should have facilitated the provision of healthcare impede my doctor's work, these seemingly disparate and disjoint fields collided. During my theological study, I lacked a clear sense of “call” or vocation, but in that collision it began to crystallize. My “call” is neither in technology nor in social justice; my call is in both technology AND social justice.

That's it. …the short-version, at least.

Finally, share the link to the application form with others who might want to apply. And if you know a girl who's crafty, creative, or thinks technology is kind of cool, tell her to check out Made with Code, it's a pretty neat site (even if does have lots of pink).

Bad Retail UX!! I may take my business elsewhere.

The process of ordering a prescription via Walgreens website this afternoon was unusually frustrating. Why? Poor interface design! I wouldn't be quite so irked if this were even remotely close to being an edge-case, but it's not. It happens thousands of times every weekday:

• A patient makes a follow-up visit to a doctor.
• The doctor sends a new electronic prescription for medication(s) the patient is already taking with no change in dosage.
• The pharmacy receives the eRx, fills it, and notifies the patient, but…
• The patient recently picked up a refill of the medication and doesn't need more for a while.
• The filled prescription sits on a shelf at the pharmacy for about a week; then it's restocked.

Also, because I'm offended by Walgreens' assertion that …any message or other communication sent to Walgreen Co. becomes the exclusive intellectual property of Walgreen Co.…, I'm claiming the copyright on the content of my email message to Customer Service for Walgreens website before I hit the send-button by sharing it here.

Online Pharmacy: “On file” Prescriptions Missing from Prescription History

Dear Walgreens Customer Service,

Prescriptions that are ”On file“ do not show up in a customer's prescription history, even when the “Show Hidden Prescriptions?” radio button is set to “Yes.”

In my case, this is particularly problematic as an earlier prescription, from the same doctor for the same medication and dosage—these details are identical—appears with the messages “Refill Due” and “0 refills remaining. If you'd like to refill, we'll call your doctor for you.”

Such poor interface design provides a dreadful user experience for customers. I expect retail websites to make it easier for me to purchase products, not more difficult. Although I have been Walgreens customer for over eight years, I may now considering transferring my prescriptions to CVS or Rite-Aid—both of which have stores closer to my home.

Furthermore, as the line between web-applications and software applications has become increasingly blurred, retail websites have come to set the bar for user experience in their respective sectors. When the retail website for a major national pharmacy chain like Walgreens has set such a low bar for user experience, is it any wonder that so much software in the healthcare sector is difficult to use?

With frustration and great disappointment,
Shelley V. Adams

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Thoughts on Software (lacking) Usability: Electronic Medical Records

This post is written in response to the April 30 post Globe article on EMRs: status and the safety issue on the e-patients.net blog.

The abundance of hard-to-use software is the only issue that repeatedly gives me reason to reconsider my decision to leave the programming field.

Here's my take on the origin of the problem:

In order to develop software with good (much less excellent) usability, the design process must include collecting data about day-to-day operations in the context where the software will be used. That rarely happens. Instead, the standard process is to meet with a ‘customer’ and discuss their requirements. Often, the ‘customer’ in that meeting is a management-level company representative with little personal experience with the nitty-gritty of those day-to-day operations and who will seldom (if ever) use the software that's being developed.

It's a poor substitute, at best, and leads to a functional but hard to use end-product. At best, the result is cream of the crap.

An better approach would borrow an number of methods, including participant observation, from cultural anthropology to gather data about how information is obtained, used, and communicated in day-to-day operations.

For EMR software, this would mean data collection in in various healthcare facilities. It would require following staff to observe information flow; perhaps even hands-on experience working in an information-saturated non-clinical role.

The executive rumored to have scoffed at the idea of usability as a criterion probably understood this—specifically, he probably understood the kind of time and resources (i.e. money) necessary to develop software specifications the right way. That is, he understood that it would cut into his bottom line more than he was willing to accept.

After all, the only thing with such amazing ability to trump common sense is concern for one's own wallet.