Not if but when; no longer why but how

There is accruing evidence that information technology can improve patient health care, with several trials of technology showing smaller numbers of medication errors, or can provide earlier detection of adverse events. Critics of this type of research point out that better resolution of events is of no value unless their direct management influences clinical outcome. Nevertheless, indirect evidence is available, such as reports indicating the importance of providing specialist neuro-critical care in the management of patients with traumatic brain injury. These studies do not indicate which aspects of critical care management are crucial, but management aimed at the earlier detection and treatment of adverse events must be partly responsible. We continue to hope for definitive controlled trial evidence that information technology-led management yields improved patient outcome, but our experience so far of funding and conducting such studies has been poor. There is no question that we need better monitoring and event detection technology for health care and that we need more research into optimising that technology, but should their adoption depend on large-scale clinical trials? Perhaps now the questions we need to focus upon are no longer if but when, and no longer why but how.