HealthAchieve 2010: eHealthAchieve opening session (Day 2 morning)

The focus of the opening session of the eHealthAchieve track was on “smart mobility and clinical collaboration”. There was a panel presentation by IBM, RIM, and Toronto East General Hospital.

IBM’s presentation was focused on the benefits of technology in health care settings, namely 1) improving operational effectiveness, 2) achieve better outcomes and quality, and 2) deliver collaborative care (i.e., new models of care). Social media/networks was also discussed as a vector for further investigation. Given the time constraints, the presenter wasn’t able to go into much detail as to the specific work that they are doing.

The second presentation was from RIM on their work in health care. The presenter shared some stories/case studies about new ways of using technology by care givers to do their job faster and better. RIM also highlighted their role of delivering solutions in a *secure* manner. I think there was a brief glimpse of a PlayBook device before it was put away. The PlayBook was also brought out and talked about how it might be useful in health care applications.

Toronto East General Hospital (TEGH) made a presentation on mobile devices based on their experience. Their main takeaway was “start small but think big”. Think big in terms of returns, process improvements, and changes, but start with small projects. TEGH’s use of the Vocera system was presented. It was interesting to see a relatively simple solution result in some impressive process improvements. An interesting tidbit was that TEGH did a “big bang” switch in terms of the EHR – no single unit roll-out. This reminds me of Dr. Dean Ornish’s (controversial) assertion that to effect change, people need to see immediate (if not radical) gains to maintain them.

Some of my personal observations:

• Not surprisingly, there seemed to be an unspoken acknowledgement of technological determinism which is to say that technology will make things better.
• The room was relatively full. Actually, I was surprised at the turn-out given the time (it started at 0830) and also because it was at the same time as the Nick Vujicic, a motivational speaker. Nick was born without limbs and his story is very inspiring and motivating.
• The focus of the technology providers was on health care professionals (i.e., physicians). I only heard the speakers mention the word “patient” only 1 time. Not really surprising.
• On a side note, the TEGH presentation was a good contrast to the previous two presentations in that the slides were simple and easy to read (i.e., not so busy) and the speaker was clear and seemed relaxed.