For those of you that follow me on twitter, you know that I have been attending physician, pharmacy, medical revenue, inpatient nursing, and outpatient nursing EMR trainings over the past month. My IT colleges often ask me why I put myself through these training sessions. After all, I am an IT leader, not a caregiver, why would I put myself through this? The answer is simple. I believe it should be mandatory for a CIO (or any IT leader) to be intimately knowledgeable about the products their customers use. Having this knowledge can mean a huge difference in quality for your institution’s EMR / EHR.
Health care electronic systems are very complex. Workflows are even more complex. An informed IT leadership is critical to ensuring that proper workflows are taken into account. It is rare to see a single EHR that encompasses all applications used in the facility. Given that issue, clinicians are often forced to move between systems (or at least the patient data is) to ensure all necessary components of patient care and billing are covered.
The more familiar your IT leadership is with the movement of data, the better they can serve the clinicians and patients.
The job of being an IT leader in a health care institution is complicated, but making sure to attend trainings for as many different users as possible is an easy way to add value to what you do as a leader, and to increase the political strength you have with the caregivers.
