Good morning! I thought I was the only one getting an early start on HIMSS.
One of the big themes of HIMSS 2018 will be, wait for it, interoperability. Now, I know what you’re saying, “Hasn’t that been a big theme for the last five years? You can’t be serious.”
Well, it has been, and I can be. We are still not there yet.
As I work with large, complicated, and sophisticated hospital groups around the country, I often see IT decisions that seem, well, that seem wrong. Maybe it’s not that they’re wrong so much as they are short-sighted. I can probably best explain with an example:
Change in business is as inevitable as change in any aspect of life and in order to progress and improve, agility and adaptability are key. As with all change management challenges, solid planning with clear objectives forms the bedrock, but getting buy-in, promoting the adoption of a new system and giving ongoing support and guidance to users is instrumental in making sure that any new process or tool delivers an ROI and remains sustainable.
Gamification is an often-heard buzzword among business leaders for learning and knowledge retention, and it’s easy to see why. Traditional education styles can feel dull compared to today’s multi-media experiences, and are not always effective and motivating to the recipient. Gamification uses peoples’ competitive instincts to engage learners in the material at-hand. Points, badges and leaderboards are typically included in learning games to drive fun and end user retention of the material.
With 2017 closing out another typical, uneventful, kind of boring year, it’s incumbent upon us to predict what the next year holds. What’s that? It’s not incumbent upon us to predict the future, you say. We can simply go about our regular routine and deal with life as it comes at us? Well, sir or madam, you clearly don’t have to deal with my VP of Marketing. She says it’s incumbent, so it is, darn it. Resistance is futile.
The manufacturing industry is known for being laggards when it comes to technology adoption, but as 2018 kicks off, many manufacturing leaders have digital transformation on the brain. Using new technologies and embracing new ways of operating is needed for business growth, but many organizations are held back by outdated business models and technology. Frustrated by legacy technology, manual processes, and inability to get visibility across the supply chain and plant operations, more organizations are evaluating the maturity of their ERP and preparing for change.
Physicians are sometimes difficult people to deal with. Did you know that? No? If not, then you probably don’t work closely with physicians! I’ve heard lots of interesting explanations as to why docs can be demanding and picky and obstinate, but when I have the conversation about physicians and their peculiarities, I always go back to my medical school experience.
I write this as I hurtle through the air at 34,000 feet. OK, maybe hurtle isn’t the best word. I’m in a plane owned by Delta, and I’m thrilled to be here. A day ago, the busiest airport in the world stopped – just stopped! – due to a complete power failure in every terminal. The airport that I reference is of course Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International.
Last week, I was traveling from my hotel to my company’s main office when my colleagues and I decided a detour for coffee was absolutely necessary. We had a five-minute trip ahead of us, and one of us (not me!) had the brilliant idea to order the drinks and food on the Starbucks mobile app so that we could get in and out quickly. Naturally, we all started shouting our orders.
Someone much more intelligent than me once said that too much of a good thing may be a bad thing. Or could be a bad thing. Or something like that. You get the idea.