Category Archives: Technology and Informatics

Posts related to technology, gadgets, cloud, informatics, or just about anything that is/can be/plugs into a computer. Relationship to radiology optional.

The Value of Knowing What Lies Ahead

When I was in 8th grade, my English teacher wanted to give everyone a book to take into high school.  She had a cardboard box full of various books. There was literary fiction like Toni Morrison.  There was a memory aid for American presidents. But I came to class really late that day, so by the time I went up to the box, there were only a few books left.  I had the great choice between Billy Budd (dryest. book. ever.), Atlas Shrugged, and this book called Getting Things Done.

I picked up Getting Things Done because Atlas Shrugged didn’t fit in my bookbag.   It would be years before I realized that self-help productivity books is in itself a major genre of nonfiction.  At the time it just didn’t make sense why anyone would need such pathologic level of compulsion to keep things organized.

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5 Free Productivity Tools for the Radiology Resident

If you are a radiology resident, you probably spend more than eight hours a day in front of a computer.  Just as a cardiologist might spend hours looking for the best-in-class stethoscope and a neurologist a perfectly balanced reflex hammer, a radiologist might do well to spend some time thinking about spiffing up your workstation.

These are not radiology-specific tools.  They are also not mind-blowing innovations.  Instead, their existence often go unnoticed.  Like air, some tasks that these programs help you with are so ubiquitous you may not even even realize they could be improved.

Snipping Tool

Screen capturing is easy as 1, 2, 3

There is always a role for downloading full resolution TIFF images for publication purposes.  However, sometimes you just want a simple screenshot for case conference or teaching file.

Fortunately, there’s a one that is on just about every modern Windows machine.

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Know Your Informatics Architect

One of the biggest mistakes you can make in an informatics project is to assume that your Architect is “just a programmer.”

It is easy to fall into a search for “hard” technical skills when looking for technical talent: Do you know SQL?  Are you Microsoft certified?  Can you code a machine learning algorithm in Python?

These are important skills, to be sure.  However, just like radiologists are all different and that clinical knowledge is only one of many facets,  potential gaps in technological capabilities is also important.

The Architect also needs to know the data infrastructure of the organization.  In a large healthcare organization, she also needs a good rapport with the other experts in the organization.

The Architect often knows solutions without knowing that there exists a problem.  More than just the programming and technical hard skills, the Architect can be counted on to mobilize the necessary resources.

Knowing your informatics Architect’s specialization and corresponding limitations can save you months of work.

Towards Healthcare Interoperability: What Must Be Done?

Interoperability is becoming the most sought-after in healthcare, but needs further standardization.  Image Credit: http://cloudpro.co.uk

A few days ago, Walgreens announced a new deal with Epic Systems, joining numerous health systems (and one of its major competitors, CVS) by implementing Epic’s famous electronic health records (EHRs). In its press release, Walgreens cited interoperability as one of the primary reason for this transition:

QuoteThis state-of-the-industry EHR will enable more seamless communication with health systems and local providers, and gives us enhanced capabilities to deliver better health outcomes through greater care coordination and interoperability.”

Interoperability has become the holy grail of technology adaptation in many industries.  Continue reading

Be a Radiology Informatics Visionary

In The Four Steps to the Epiphany, Stephen Clark describes an “Earlyvangelist,” with the prefix “early” referring to a champion a the very early stage of a product adaptation cycle.

Since our emphasis is on problem and not the product, a different term might be more appropriate.  I will refer to this person as The Visionary.

The Visionary comes from the “problem end” of informatics. The Visionary is observant and asks good questions. She has a pain point. She knows when things just don’t look quite right. She may not know what the solution looks like. She may not even know that a solution exists. Marketers like Visionaries because these people see problem and can see the potential of the new purchase.

The Visionary is what all radiologists interested in informatics should be.  We see the clinical problem in a way that no software developer and no administrator can see.  Sitting down and accepting the status quo runs the risk of burying the problem forever.

Healthcare Data Analytics – The Time to Act Is Now

This recent Deloitte healthcare analytic report came out with focus on big data.  The report aims to identify current state of data analytics as well as emerging trends in healthcare.

The 30-Second Recap?

Most organizations believe data analytics is important, but less than half have a clear strategy to approach it.  Few (5 of 50 surveyed organizations) anticipate an increase in budget.  Those who did invest describe the most important drivers as improve clinical outcomes, deliver value-based care, and reduce operating costs.

And then there’s my favorite figure, reproduced from the Deloitte report:  Continue reading

After Big Data—Keep Healthcare Ahead with Internet of Things

In a way, healthcare has spearheaded the forefront of universal connectivity with common objects. In the world of Big Data, healthcare is now uniquely positioned to take the next step.

A few years ago, I needed hand surgery. Shortly after checking in to the outpatient surgery department, the helpful nurse attached EKG leads onto my arms and chest, and a pulse oximeter to my finger. The monitor next to my bed flickered and came to life. Then, colorful telemetric and oximetric tracings in a nursing station computer reflected an exact copy. A record in the hospital intranet traced my wellbeing overtime. Wireless connectivity allowed an extra pair of eyes to watched me and to ensure aberrant flickers do not go unnoticed… Continue reading

This article originally appeared in American Journal of Managed Care.

Watson Will Replace Me? Not A Chance

Arthur C. Clark and Stanley Kubrick predicted supercomputers more intelligent than humans.  In 2001: A Space Odyssey, the HAL states, with typical human immodesty, “The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made… We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error.” Forty years later, IBM’s Watson pummeled humans in Jeopardy – a distinctly human game. Continue reading

Organizing OneNote to Rock Your Radiology Training

Radiology residents have a massive volume of information to keep track of in the discipline, consisting of texts, images, and sometimes videos.

The variety of data type is made more complex by the data sources, from website clippings, PDF from PubMed, a slide from noon conference, or simply freehand typing.

To complicate matters, a resident also must keep abreast many sets of requirements, documentations, conferences, reimbursements, and academic projects.

How do you keep track of it all? Continue reading

Opening Up – Adding Value to Your Open Source Project

This is the third of a series of three posts on open source software. The discussion is geared towards non-programmers who – more frequently than expected – becomes involved in an open-source project.

Open-source is a complex paradigm, but sometimes it is also thrown into an academic abstract or grant proposal without much thought. Previously I presented a basic description of open-source and discussed some common misconceptions about OS software.

If you were involved in an open-source project as the clinical expert (i.e. not the programmer), you are likely the team member best positioned to bridge this gap. This post focuses on how you are uniquely positioned to contribute. Continue reading