http://www.hhnmostwired.com/hhnmostwired_app/jsp/articledisplay.jsp...

"Outside the hospital, clinic or physician office, we encounter decision support every day. The first time I truly understood how pervasive it was, I was in the drive-through lane at a fast-food restaurant. Beneath the outdoor menu was an order verification screen. As I placed my order, the screen displayed the following message: “Please order here. This screen helps ensure order accuracy and prompt service.” Each item I ordered appeared on the screen along with its price.

A fast-food restaurant is worried that I might get the wrong size of French fries while most hospitals continue to rely on written orders interpreted by hospital staff. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard nurses discussing a written order and voting on what they thought the physician meant. If you drove home with a chicken sandwich instead of a cheeseburger because of a similarly broken process, chances are you’d never visit that drive-through again."