DTO: Helping physicians ensure technology works for them

Issue: BCMJ, vol. 58, No. 4, May 2016, Page 223 News

The Doctors Technology Office (DTO) supports BC physicians with their in-practice technology needs. Physicians can receive advocacy, support, and guidance around use of technology in their practices, with a primary focus on electronic medical records (EMRs).

Physicians are encouraged to contact the DTO for assistance with major unresolved technical issues, such as problems accessing EMRs from hospitals or facilities, or connecting EMRs and local networks. When a solution to the reported issue cannot be found or resolved in a timely manner through an EMR vendor, the DTO will work with other partners to find a solution on a physician’s behalf.

The DTO also investigates new technologies and provides solutions to reduce security and performance impacts. For example, the DTO issues bulletins in response to technical issues experienced by clinics or elsewhere in the health care sector.

The DTO works directly with physicians and in collaboration with provincial partners (including the Ministry of Health, health authorities, EMR vendors, Health Shared Services BC, and others) to ensure physicians’ needs are taken into account when technology solutions are designed and delivered.

The DTO is a joint initiative of the General Practice Services Committee and the Specialist Services Committee. Visit www.doctorsofbc.ca/doctors-technology-office for more information, or contact the DTO, Technology Solutions and Support, at 604 638-5841 or dtotechsupport@doctorsofbc.ca.

. DTO: Helping physicians ensure technology works for them. BCMJ, Vol. 58, No. 4, May, 2016, Page(s) 223 - News.


Above is the information needed to cite this article in your paper or presentation. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) recommends the following citation style, which is the now nearly universally accepted citation style for scientific papers:
Halpern SD, Ubel PA, Caplan AL, Marion DW, Palmer AM, Schiding JK, et al. Solid-organ transplantation in HIV-infected patients. N Engl J Med. 2002;347:284-7.

About the ICMJE and citation styles

The ICMJE is small group of editors of general medical journals who first met informally in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1978 to establish guidelines for the format of manuscripts submitted to their journals. The group became known as the Vancouver Group. Its requirements for manuscripts, including formats for bibliographic references developed by the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), were first published in 1979. The Vancouver Group expanded and evolved into the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE), which meets annually. The ICMJE created the Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals to help authors and editors create and distribute accurate, clear, easily accessible reports of biomedical studies.

An alternate version of ICMJE style is to additionally list the month an issue number, but since most journals use continuous pagination, the shorter form provides sufficient information to locate the reference. The NLM now lists all authors.

BCMJ standard citation style is a slight modification of the ICMJE/NLM style, as follows:

  • Only the first three authors are listed, followed by "et al."
  • There is no period after the journal name.
  • Page numbers are not abbreviated.


For more information on the ICMJE Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals, visit www.icmje.org

BCMJ Guidelines for Authors

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