Medical Informatics improving healthcare outcomes

Diana Badcock begins the talk by discussing her decision to take up the role of Chief Medical Informatics Officer (CMIO).

Diana was optimistic about taking this job. However, she left the job after a year. Though she failed in the job, Diana thinks she learnt a lot about failing with fortitude.

Diana next talks about the death of her father who was very healthy throughout his life. Three months before his death, he went for a check-up as he was not feeling well. However, he was reassured by the doctor that everything was fine without conducting any tests.

Diana, therefore, feels that both she and the system failed her father. Doctors today are overwhelmed with the volume of patients who are older and have more complex conditions, morbidities and mortalities.

Many feel that technology is the solution to the problem. However, the amount of money spent in health IT does not reflect the value of the product.

This happens because the design of the technology does not match the user experience. Therefore the role of CMIO, CNIO or CCIO is very crucial because the end user has to be there when the technology is being developed.

However, Diana feels that CMIO does not get any support either from their colleagues or the organisation. While her peers expected her to help them with their daily IT tasks like opening emails or changing passwords, the organisation treated her like a child or a mere token.

This is because a clinician is naïve in the ways of governance, politics and project management.

The solution is to involve clinicians in the planning, delivery, improvement and evaluation of clinical ICT systems. Clinicians should be responsible for clinical documentation, single sign on and medication management while the project manager should only manage the project and not the people.

Technology should be the enabler, not the driver for health IT. Diana thinks clinicians should focus on bringing about clinical intra-operability to have a simple, standardised way of managing common conditions.

Roles like Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Ideas Officer, Innovation Officer, Improvement Officer will be coming up in the future and clinicians should take up these posts to improve the system from within.

In conclusion, we need to learn to respond and respect the other silo business of health so that we can work together to analyse, dissect and transform healthcare.

Medical Informatics improving healthcare outcomes

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