Batting for Change in EMR acceptance

EMR is becoming a standard of medical practice in documentation and procedure in this country (India) too. Software developers here and elsewhere flock to this country flogging their ware in more aggressive modes now than before. 

The need for standardization in ease of operation and interoperability advantages are beginning to be felt here as borders between care giving organizations begin to blur in delivering optimized patient care. The shift is beginning to be realized. From hospital-centric to true patient-centric. 

Challenges beckon the solutions providers in their abilities to  provide timely tools with the necessary arguments that will convince as compel the treatment providers, the medication prescribers, doctors and clinicians in particular; in laying out the path to a new workflow with the patient as the focus.

As both hardwired strongroom based servers and the increasingly popular SaaS (read Cloud) hosted medical databases vie with one another for acceptance and confidence from the healthcare provider managements institutionally, yet another method of preferential filing is emerging  among data managers - the possibility and elective safety afforded by a hybrid mix of local servers and the cloud. 

Let us shift the scene to the doctor. 

It is a worldwide phenomenon not welcomed by the info-tech solutions community. I am referring to the negative indolence shown by the treating community of not entirely embracing the available rich EMR spaces right in front of their desktop screens.  Available data shows blank (read unpopulated) spaces within the EMR templates which are created just for standards compliance and interoperability advantages.  

Unresolved Fears, uncertainties and doubts (FUDs) unfortunately rule the minds of the care givers even as the healthcare industry is getting into aggressive competitive modes yet battling for basic viability with bare minimum successes. 

The aggressive modes just mentioned refer to the likes of the recent developments at the likes of Amrita's AHIS now being offered in handheld Android devices.

It is the onus of the info-tech solutions providers to continue to push for removing the FUDs entirely from the users' erstwhile habits. One of the methods might be to address the medical pros at their exclusive clubs and associations, haunts where informality as much as peer sensibilities exhibit themselves. In parallel, the professionals in the spectrum of EHR/EMR users must also be addressed online in C.2 modes where they can actively interact with authors. 

I pause this episode with the two methods of persuasion with the hope that it will ignite more thoughts on how to move this significant paradigms off the drawing boards into the hands of the very people who will benefit by them. 

The day is not far when patients equally armed with personal information, statutory rights  and also general knowledge of their conditions come to engage the care giver one on one. 

Ominous Hint: Higher secondary and pre secondary school classrooms where students are better armed than the teachers in Internet and its ramifications. 

Tabletization of the EMR - is the future already here?:

Tabletization of the EMR - is the future already here?: Tabletization of the EMR - is the future already h...: As the VP of a Healthcare Software company (Amrita Technologies - www.amritatech.com), I am often called upon to visit various hospitals a...

Potential Within

Ever wondered about the immense strengths that hide within? 

Change is possible to trigger from within by merely wishing for change. Habit changes, paradigm changes,  mental shifts as we commonly tag these, and more. To achieve mental shifts we do not need external props. Nor do we need extensive exercises to try out a few changes. Counselors call for making the change in ourselves rather than changing an external. Yet the puzzle continue to baffle us thought our workday lives and even invade our private lives! Many a time we make those shifts but only to revert to our earlier states.

The wise advise us to look around to find stimuli to help us.The best stimulus to look for is Nature. Everything in nature surrounding us, has a lesson to teach. If we are willing to look as a student would. The five elements, earth,water,fire(light), air and space - all are loaded with lessons. If we look deeper into each one of these and bother to spend some time in solitude we will be surprised to learn how much we missed in the past. 

Learn to veer away from the din and bustle of the busy life even while in its vortex.  Not all of us can afford at a whim that get away vacation to a secluded cozy cove away in the hills. What we can is the developing of that faculty in us which can conjure up visions in the mind. Visuals, to use a current term. I do not at all mean day-dreams nor fantasies. I mean lucid dreaming. You may have heard about or read about lucid dreaming from the likes of Steve Pavlina or with more precision, from the scriptural texts of the East. 

Meditation helps. It may be difficult to classify meditation as there are many methods to choose from.Possibly the easiest and the better alternative to sleep, is the easy asana or the 'sukhasana'. No particular contraction of the limbs, but your own best posture where you get the most relaxation of body first leading to an equally relaxed mind. 

Learn and practice to pick up a thread from nature. Could be from any of the five elements we saw earlier. Stones are familiar with the practitioners of Zen. Air is familiar with practitioners of Yoga. So are light, fire and space. Pick the one that's most comfortable for you yet helps you to focus your thoughts on. You will find that the things we mentioned have different boundaries or dimensions. Some are easily 'defined'. For instance, a stone has finite dimensions. Water, however fluid, has its own boundaries of the containers they come in. Even oceans have limits. By the way, I have found that this boundless aspect of water, the ocean, has given moments immense and intense happiness and peace for me. Till I found something better.

Air is one of them. Nature is not nature if it does not have a place for air. Composed of life giving substances in elements and compounds, air is to us as water is to fish. That is why the ancient wise called it 'the life-breath' or Prana. Harnessing air as an element has immense possibilities. Science is full of instances. Animals other than man are living examples of how they tackle its power. Hibernating creatures use so little of it that they can stay healthy through the harshest of winters. It is said that the less you use air the longer you live!

The topic is well suited for lengthy analyses. I invite you to this space in the days and weeks to come as we will explore the potential in more detail. 

Till then,

The Day of Drums

The posse of soldiers will sound the Last Post as a great man comes home to his village for his rest in peace. The drums will follow. Solemn ceremonies that evoke a hundred emotions. The liveried in limousines will leave.

R I P dies not necessarily have to mean what it generally does. According to one of my teachers the message is Rise If Possible!

Takes one back into times of great events, upheavals in history.

 

But the day's sunset will also have to include serious stuff for people living in countries such as ours. Questions on high law. Time to think and check if our altitudes of thought chime with those in the corridors of power. Where are those corridors in the first place? The highest pedestals of law? the viceregal lodge? or the soldiers' pillboxes?

Who is right?

As you go to bed tonight, spare a thought for those who may have been forced to exit in error!

Abdul Kalam Shifts Lanes

It is seldom that Presidents are honored the way we honor APJ. Simply put, he walked the talk. No doubt he helped this country pace through the essentials in creating Change - beginning with the basic 'thought-shifts'. 

His words became truths. His coinages became paradigms. His way of life was a mirror to our heritage values. His religion embraced All. His habits became lessons for an emerging generation. His profession belied his true personality. In short, he is India's contribution to world leadership in line with the values we hold high and dear to our hearts.

Bye APJ, but you will walk with us for ever!

 

My Dear Friends!

Here is BG after a long spell. As one can imagine, I went through a few tough minutes searching for a name that Blogger will accept. I found 'shiftlanes' was not yet 'taken'. The title of the blog is nonetheless, Change. And shiftlanes could be read as a synonym.

There is nothing as inevitable as change, or say, shift. Shifting lanes on a highway or a fast expressway is a good allegory. I mean the thoughts and plans that precede your decision to shift lanes or not.

Surprisingly, on afterthought,  you feel silly having entertained the process of thought itself! Hinting that logic has little role in planning for change!

So, here I am, back on the bloggers' ecology. The title may further undergo, yes, change as I move to upgrade the space to a more 'respectful' dot com plane. I welcome your views on the topic called 'change' and you do feel free to recommend that domain name(s) that will closely reflect the stuff it cans.