The role of a nurse is a complex one. Not only is this individual responsible for the physical bedside care of multiple patients, but may also be called upon to offer emotional support for patients and their families. While this is an absolute honor and a privilege, it can also be emotionally draining and lead to burnout syndrome or compassion fatigue. In order to ensure that patients receive the highest quality care, we must make sure that nurses have support for their own emotional well-being.
Back to Basics: Re-Thinking Mobility & Workflow Efficiencies Within the Hospital
Care delivery best practices are constantly changing to optimize efficiency and safety, and look considerably different compared to just a decade ago. The digital healthcare transformation has ushered in promising opportunities to use technology to improve nurse and clinician workflows, monitor patients remotely, and provide secure paths for communication between care team members.
Precision Medicine in 2017? Not So Fast…
As we head into HIMSS 2017, the movement toward precision medicine is at the top of the agenda. The idea of using data to customize care for patients is not new; however, with the passage of the 21st Century Cures Act late in 2016, what was once a far-off dream now seems closer to reality.
But are we really that close? Unfortunately, the answer is no, unless we address the key barriers to success: interoperability and cybersecurity.
Turning Data Into Action by Leveraging ‘Low-Hanging Analytics’
In healthcare, we constantly seek new ways to deliver and improve care. Countless ideas have already been tried and tested, and people often think that coming up with the next great innovation requires thinking ‘outside of the box.’ This notion has been instilled in most of us from a young age, and those in all industries – not just healthcare – often strive to show their creativity through this approach. However, in my experience, thinking outside of the box doesn’t always lead to the best new ideas. Sometimes, we need to focus on thinking better inside the box.
Moving Beyond Buzzwords: Enabling the Future of Healthcare with Platform Technology
Across the country, health care organizations are re-envisioning how to deliver care. Major health systems like Lahey Health are seeking out new solutions that allow us to transition from episodic care to wellness – minimizing the impact of disease and managing the health of populations more effectively. At the same time, patients continue to demand more from their care providers. We now must bring care to patients at the time and location of their choosing, and this is the beginning of the consumerization of healthcare. These shifts require technology that can provide more comprehensive and context-aware views of patients’ data, support for collaborative care across the continuum, and allow health systems to scale their delivery of care in new ways. Consequently, CIOs face constant challenges to seek out the most effective technologies that will ensure an organization’s vision can come to fruition.
Let’s Challenge Outdated Perceptions of Women in Health IT
At first glance, one might think that healthcare is a female-dominated industry. After all, women make up 80 percent of healthcare workers[1]. However, the truth is not so simple. In 2014, only 40 percent of executive roles in healthcare were held by women. Complicating this even further is the fact that on the business-to-business (B2B) side – particularly in newer industry sectors like healthcare IT – women are still finding their footing in leading roles.
Even as more women take on leadership roles today, old ways of thinking still remain. Since healthcare IT is a newer industry, we still have some ground to make up. Perhaps we should start by first acknowledging that an issue exists before we can successfully address it.
Propelling Your Business Dream into a Successful Reality
When growing a startup, there are typically three main areas of focus: sales, operations and the back office. By nature, the DNA of most entrepreneurs – including but not limited to those in healthcare – leads them to focus most of their attention on sales. This often results in a common challenge for entrepreneurs: the fixation on sales means they are not looking at the whole picture. Entrepreneurs all share the passion and vision regarding their company’s key audiences, particularly who will buy their products and how much they will sell. However, the operations and back office teams are needed as well to help drive an entrepreneur’s product to that world-changing next level. Continue reading
