High Road Communications

It was great to be back in Chicago this week. I always forget how amazing the architecture is and how entrenched technology companies are in the city. Our hotel was in the same building as the Chicago-Sun Times, which was quite convenient.  After our meeting, we received an amazing tour of the city and learned about Art Deco and Frank Lloyd Wright...I really must get to Falling Water soon in PA to check out the house there. 

As I wait for my flight, I cannot find a copy of The Chicago-Sun Times, so I’ve picked up a copy of USA Today.  In one of the small briefs in the front section is a story about how hospitals and surgery centers in Indiana reported 77 serious medical errors in 2006 – including nine surgeries performed on the wrong body part and two on the wrong patient.

It’s amazing how much we rely on technology to make our decisions for us – and while I am a bona fide techno junkie and go to meetings when my Outlook calendar dictates and pay the bills my bank shows me online – it’s rare that I go back and look at where the information populating my calendar, my banking, comes from. 

As hospitals move to put more of their patient information online under the watchful gaze from HIPAA, it’s every more important for them to look at how that data is being managed (there is an interesting post by Curious Cat from last year that I think is still relevant and worth a read) .  There shouldn’t be the need for doctors to draw an arrow on a patient’s leg to highlight which one should be operated on – they should have enough confidence in the information that’s coming through their systems. 

Faced with quality of patient care issues and compliance regulations, healthcare organizations have had to address increasing demands for information – and journalists are beginning to take note, with more publications like eWeek and Baseline looking at dedicating more coverage to data management overall.  2007 will be an interesting year to watch this sector take off and editorial focus from to work with technology and business publications take a closer look at the IT that runs our hospitals.