Collaborative patient-care teams rely on accurate and complete information in order to make informed decisions about their patients. However, patient-related information problems (PIPs) are a common occurrence in hospital work. These PIPs are any issues related to patient information that impact the patient-care team's ability to perform their work (e.g., wrong, missing, outdated information). To better understand the challenges that patient-care teams face in identifying and collaboratively managing PIPs related to the use of the electronic health record (EHR), we conducted a qualitative study of patient-care teams during morning rounds. In this paper, we describe the types of PIPs that the team members encountered and how they identified who was accountable for fixing the PIP. Through our analysis, we highlight the challenges that arise when team members have an unclear or conflicting assumption about who is responsible for fixing the PIP. We conclude with a discussion on improving organizational policies and EHR design in order to help reduce ambiguous accountability for the management of PIPs within collaborative teams.

Electronic medical record (EMR) systems are used by a wide variety of users. However, current research on the design and use of the EMR primarily focuses on clinical users such as physicians and nurses. While it is important to understand EMR use by clinicians, there is also a need to understand how non-clinicians use these systems because of the important role they play in the patient-care process. In this note, we present results of an ethnographic field study on the use and perceptions of EMR systems by non-clinicians in an emergency department. We then discuss design implications that can improve the system usability and strengthen the empowerment of these non-clinicians.

Privacy research has long focused on the individual. Yet most organizations are highly collaborative where teamwork is the norm. To examine privacy practices in collaborative settings, we conducted an ethnographic study of a highly collaborative and information-intensive setting -- an emergency Dept. (ED). We found that ED staff's work practices did not always align with the organization's privacy policies and procedures. We then discuss the use of workarounds when privacy policies interfere with work practices, the challenge of assigning accountability for enforcing privacy in collaborative environments, and implications for technical and policy design. We conclude with some thoughts on the future of privacy research in collaborative settings.

With the rapid emergence of health information technologies (HIT) in hospitals, it is important to understand how the design of these systems affects the communication of patient information and the collaboration of hospital teams. HIT systems can provide benefits to the patient-care process, but they do not always address serious information problems. In some cases, the design and use of HIT systems can cause additional information problems. Therefore, this qualitative study seeks to understand how hospital teams identify and manage these information problems, and how information problems impact the collaborative activities of the hospital team