Skip to main content

I Was Just Thinking About Health IT

 |  By gshaw@healthleadersmedia.com  
   December 13, 2011

Years ago (Google it if you really want to know how old I am), one of my favorite Boston Globe columnists wrote an occasional "I was just thinking" feature, a series of pithy observations on various random topics. And although it was widely believed that Mike Barnicle only wrote these roundup columns when he was out of ideas or just feeling lazy, I always liked them. And I always thought it would be fun to write one, too.

Of course, Barnicle ended up getting fired over one of those columns, in which he quoted without attribution from a book by comedian George Carlin. He did some other bad reporter stuff, too. But I promise I didn't make up or plagiarize any of the following news stories from 2011. (Although I won't comment on whether I'm out of ideas or feeling lazy.)

Docs afraid looking at data makes them look dumb
It's kind of amazing to me how many healthcare IT stories include the phrase "physician engagement." And not in a good way. In the past year, we've written about doctors casting their wary eyes at electronic medical records, computerized physician order entry, personal health records, and more. But the story about docs who think that using decision-support tools in front of patients makes them look dumb? Well, I was just thinking that idea, itself, is pretty dumb.

Reporter milks sprained ankle for page views
Writers know there is an upside when something bad happens—say, a trip to the emergency room halfway through your dream vacation to Paris: There's almost always a story in it. At the time of my visit to the emergency room at the 987-bed Hôpital Bichat–Claude Bernard, I wasn't thinking about the potential for a column.

Until, that is, I discovered they don't even have the capability of printing out discharge instructions in multiple languages, let alone the ability to send digital X-rays and a report of the ED visit to my doctor in the U.S. They did, however, manage to send me a bill for €36. And I was just thinking that I still haven't paid it.

Robots, robots, robots
I probably wrote too many robot stories for HealthLeaders Media during my tenure as senior technology editor. If you Google “Gienna Shaw robots” you get about 18,900,000 results. In my defense, I really like robots. It's clear that robots have been and will continue to be a boon to the healthcare industry—from robot-assisted surgery to remote healthcare. And I was just thinking … I just wrote about robots again.

CMS extends stage 2 meaningful use deadline; industry yawns
It's not really a surprise that the feds, facing industry and political pressure, extended the deadline for hospitals to meet the second phase of meaningful use requirements. But I was just thinking that I won't be so surprised the next time I'm at a tech conference and ask someone what their organization is doing about, say, ICD-10, and the answer is "waiting for the government to extend the deadline."

Gienna Shaw signs off
[Editor’s note: This is Shaw’s last column for HealthLeaders Media, featuring her insights on health IT, personality, and snark. Look for continued coverage of technology from the healthcare CIO perspective on HealthLeadersMedia.com, in HealthLeaders magazine, in the weekly “Technology Input” column and newsletter, and in our multimedia and research-based products.]

Tagged Under:


Get the latest on healthcare leadership in your inbox.