Bringing my uke to another informatics conference.
A note of appreciation to my colleagues doing practical informatics work on the frontlines of healthcare
Are you the woman or man in the arena?
It may seem that everyone else out there has it easy: after all, JAMIA, JMIR and ACI informatics journals are filled with amazing colleagues who write about their amazing research, clinical innovations, successful project and implementations. Be careful not to let the FOMO get you down, as it does to me on occasion.
It is so easy to judge oneself: There must be something wrong with ME, why can’t I get anything done? Why can’t I be successful, why is it so hard for me?
Watching the finale of Ted Lasso recently, I was, as they say in French, ‘triste’. An emotion of sadness, tinged with joy. (I think that is right). On the one hand that the series is over, and on the other to recognize that there is such great art, such great writing in the world, about being a good person.
Ted talked about Theodore Roosevelt’s ‘the man in the arena.’ Or that the person doing the work gets dirty, suffers the slings and arrows, gets criticized. On the other hand, that same person is also truly living life, experiencing joy, making a difference. This contrasts with the person in the relative safety of the sidelines— the critic who points out flaws, denigrates.
In the arena recently:
CT deploys a pre-populated start date for schedule II controlled substance prescriptions to simplify prescriber workflow. Great, except terrible. The pre-populated dates cause unexpected havoc. CT removes the tool after a week and apologizes to 4000 physicians and APPs.
CT deployed radiology “indications of use” as checkboxes to improve ordering provider workflow. Great, except, terrible. Pages of scrolling checkboxes are unusable and are removed after 2 days. CT apologizes.
CT advocates for and then deploys messaging between patients and their clinics and providers to increase patient connection and engagement. Great, except terrible. CT apologizes for ruining healthcare.
And yet. Only when we try many things and fail, will a few things succeed:
- EHR optimization Sprint teams
- APSO notes for readability
- Open notes for patient understanding
These projects had a difficult birth, and yet, with persistence and great teams and supportive informatics colleagues, achieved success.
CMIO’s take? Keep in mind the long game. Let not the inevitable sarcastic shouting of the critic silence our efforts.
I celebrate you, my colleagues in the arena. For all of our failures, our setbacks, our licked wounds, we are making a difference.
Uchealth is so very lucky to have you CT 🥰
You are very kind.