In another company, we tried rolling out RFID badges that could be scanned at any workstation to log doctors in rather than passwords. This proved to be too inconvenient for doctors as well, and the system had to be rolled back within a month because doctors kept forgetting to keep their badge with them and would then throw a hissy fit because they wanted to go back to the old system where all workstations were permanently unlocked.

Security IT is, in my experience, one of the most amenable in terms of trying to come up with new ways to serve customers because the customers require it (all customers require it, not just doctors), but doctors are on an entirely different level when it comes to resistance to change.

In contrast to your experience, all VA physicians are obligated to use an ID card with a chip in order to login.

Indeed, other hospital chains do as well, which is why we viewed it as a good option and went down that path to begin with. In the case I'm referring to, everyone at the hospital already had badges and the thought was that removing password requirements and using the badges that everyone already had as a login would work well.

It didn't work, not because of technical issues, but because we didn't anticipate the high number of doctors that apparently had lost their badges and had never faced consequences for it (the culture at this hospital was "oh you forgot your badge? no worries, I'll just open the door for you"). When we then asked the medical staff to keep better track of their badges (not just for the login system but also because of general campus security) we received incredible pushback, and that's when we had to roll back the program.

IME, and as evidenced by the VA using a similar system as you mentioned, doctors are perfectly competent enough and able to use these systems and do just fine once they get used to the system. The issue is that they put up a fight more than anyone else when introducing something new, and oftentimes IME the new system never gets a chance before it's shot down.

Physicians sporadically not having badges sounds like an accreditation-threatening problem, for what it’s worth. (It depends on the institution’s self-stated standards, however.)

I'm not surprised to hear that. When I rolled off that project, the login system project was slowed down/put on hold while solving the badge situation was being prioritized. We definitely opened up a can of worms when we reported to leadership that the project was delayed because people weren't carrying their badges with them.

Doctors are not customers, patients with their expectation of privacy are. This is similar to doctors resisting keeping checklists [1] of what goes in and out of patients during operations.

Doctors are service providers and the service is lacking.

[1] https://hbr.org/2019/05/how-one-health-system-overcame-resis...

> This is similar to doctors resisting keeping checklists

Or how they refused to wash their hands between morgue and delivery after Semmelweiss' discoveries.

Doctors see themselves as demigods. Not without reason, since other employees treat them as demigods, society and culture at large sees them as demigods as well.

> Doctors are not customers, patients with their expectation of privacy are.

In the US system, is the patient the customer, or the insurance company?

I work in healthcare outside the US and I’d argue that the system I’m in is also quite skewed. In private healthcare where I am, the patient is the person who turns up and pays, but their doctor holds the power to send their patients elsewhere, and so must be kept happy too.

>Instead of disparaging the customers and their needs how about listening to it and trying to really solve the issues.

That statement applies to about 95% of the many issues we face these days. Blaming is apparently easier than solving.