Posts Tagged ‘Books’
The Year 2014 in Review
February 4, 2015
2014 was my first full year with HIMSS in consumer health and full of opportunity.
In January, I went to my first Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It was as massive as I heard, full of large screen TVs, many curved screens, drones, health trackers, etc. I spent most of the time at the Digital Health Summit – a well organized event including patient panels, fitness health device startups, wellness programs, and a demonstration of a exoskeleton. Got to catch up with some friends including Hugo Campos.
At the end of February, I experienced my first HIMSS conference as staff rather than member. A series of full days in Orlando, most of the time spent managing the new Connected Patient Learning Gallery which was a big success with speakers including Lygeia Ricciardi and Regina Holliday both painting and speaking. Great to spend time with other HIMSS staff and understand what it takes to pull of a successful conference of 36,000 participants.
One of the advantages of working in the Global Center for Health Innovation in Cleveland is that it is attached to the Cleveland Convention Center. As a result, I had the opportunity to attend the Cleveland Clinic Patient Experience Summit in May, the Case Management Society of America in June and the Cleveland Clinic Innovation Summit in October.
In June, I had the opportunity to speak at the Northern Ohio HIMSS conference on the Value of Patient Engagement. There were several other chapter meetings, chapter leader institute, meaningful use meeting and the Nursing Informatics Institute, all well delivered HIMSS events.
In November, I had a great opportunity to present at the D-Data Exchange and attend the Diabetes Mine Innovation Summit. Although I had been to other events like MedicineX and Health 2.0 which advocate for patients and include patients throughout their programs, Diabetes Mine is a close-knit and strong advocacy group of Type 1 diabetics who know their technology and know policy to make their lives better. See my blog post about this on the Maker Culture in Healthcare.
In December, I returned to the HIMSS mHealth Summit in DC. Great presentations on cutting edge technology with an emphasis on what new ideas work and how they can impact patient outcomes. There was also talk about co-development of new apps and technology with patients. I also enjoyed the international flavor of the conference, especially the African representatives discussing ways to use mHealth to address the Ebola crisis.
I had book chapters published including:
- a chapter on social media
- A revision of my chapter on eResearch in the Health Informatics textbook
- A chapter on Computing and Information in a book on Wireless Health
Also, I had 3 publications, two journal articles as coauthor with the Chronic Kidney Disease Registry at Cleveland Clinic.
It was also an active year for blogging:
- Most of my blogging activity moved to the HIMSS blog
- In October, I began LinkedIn long posts on “This Week in Patient Engagement” which has been successful.
I continue to teach a online course on Clinical Analytics for Kent State University. Great students and a great opportunity. Looking forward to developing a second level course on analytics in 2015.
In 2015, there will be few posts here but more at HIMSS and LinkedIn. Please follow me there.
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Two Book Chapters Published
March 3, 2014
Last week I had two book chapters published.
First, a new social media book published by HIMSS titled Applying Social Media Technologies in Healthcare Environments edited by Christina Thielst, an early adopter of blogging in Health IT. My chapter is on “Social Media Hubs: Strategy and Implementation.” The book addresses a wide range of issues including legal and public health.
The second chapter is an update to Health Informatics: Practical Guide for Healthcare and Information Technology Professionals now in its 6th edition. My chapter is on eResearch, reviewing how information technology can support all aspects of the research workflow. The book is expanded adding several new chapters and is now endorsed by AMIA and available to AMIA members at a discount. Bob Hoyt, the editor from the University of West Florida, has created a companion website as a resource to informatics faculty and students called www.informaticseducation.org.
Both books are available in paper and as ebooks.
Another book chapter is nearing publishing. Will have an announcement about that soon.
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Personal Year in Review
December 26, 2012
2012 may go down as a most traveled year for me both in terms of the number of trips and miles traveled but also in terms of new opportunities.
In January, I gave a lecture to the 3rd year medical students at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine on Biomedical Informatics challenging them to think about the future of algorithms in medicine among other topics.
Beginning in February, my chapter on eResearch in the book Health Informatics, was published.
Later in February, it was off to Las Vegas for HIMSS. I was a guest of the Dutch delegation and spoke on Electronic Medical Records: From Clinical Decision Support to Precision Medicine. It was great to see Health IT social media colleagues at the HIMSS social media center. Also during February, I was invited to be on the advisory board for Health Works Collective and contributed to their interest in European trends with a blog post on How Europe is Growing Health Apps.
In March I attended the American Medical Informatics Association Clinical Research Informatics meeting in San Francisco. I presented two posters and one podium presentation all focused on the use of EMR data in research.
Then in April, it was on to the Netherlands for TEDx Maastricht and a visit to Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmeg en to meet at the ReShape & Innovation Center see a preview of the movie The Waiting Room. Also had a tour of the In Vitro programming there with ePatient Dave. Later in April I attend the Epic Research Advisory Council for the first time. Another valuable meeting of other user of the Epic EMR on the secondary use of EMR data in research and how to integrate research into the EMR.
Epic Campus near Madison, Wisconsin
May brought the publication of a blog post in iHealthbeat on A Look at Social Media in Health Care — Two Years Later , a follow up post on my original commentary on Healthcare social media from 2010. Also, I attended the Patient Experience Summit at the Cleveland Clinic which included fellow HealthWorksCollective bloggers Robin Carrey and Barbara Ficarra. Also published was a Technology Brief from the American Association of Medical Colleges on Mobile Apps. These one page summaries are targeted at medical school leadership.
June brought a trip to Barcelona for the Hospital Liquido conference. I presented an updated version of From Clinical Decision Support to Precision Medicine, This was a great opportunity to see one of Europe’s most beautiful cities as well as see the health IT innovation including Doctoralia.
Sagrada de Familia, Barcelona
In July I presented virtually at Salud 2.0 in Bilbao, another offering from Spain in medical innovation. My presentation on Social Media in Health Care: A Reasoned Approach was well received. I had the opportunity to answer questions via phone. Hopefully, I will be able to attend this conference in person in a future year.
In August, I was invited to become Adjunct Faculty at Kent State University in Health Informatics. Preparing a course in Clinical Analytics to be taught in May and June, 2013. This is a completely online masters program will be a new experience for me including online videos, readings, assignments and weekly discussion topics. At the end of August I attend the Ohio Health Data Symposium at Case Western Reserve University. Ohio like many states has a rich repository of public health information on everything from chronic diseases to behavioral health.
In early September, I completed a chapter on Computing and Information for a new textbook on Wireless Health: Remaking of Medicine by Pervasive Technologies. The concept of pervasive technology in healthcare is certainly at a tipping point. The book will be out in February 2013. Also in September I attended an internal Cleveland Clinic event, the annual Healthcare Technology Forum which showcased some of the many IT initiatives at all Cleveland Clinic locations including Abu Dhabi.
October 29-31, I attend the Cleveland Clinic Innovation Summit which focused on Orthopedics but included presentations by IBM, 23andMe and Explorys.
November took me to Chicago for the AMIA Annual Symposium. With record attendance (3500), I had the opportunity to organize and present a pre-symposium workshop on Clinical Research Informatics Infrastructure and a poster on the use of a wiki to educate healthcare professionals about secondary use of EMR data. The same week I attend the Informatics Key Functional Committee of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards of the NIH. It was valuable to see what tools are being developed and particularly to attend the Integrated Data Repository workgroup. Also significant for AMIA this year was being featured on the website under Faces of AMIA and participating in the mentorship program, working with an up an coming informaticist, Anja Timmerman. I would encourage all experienced health IT professionals to participate in mentoring to bring along the next generation of informatics.
Chicago Millennium Park
In December I presented at Cleveland Clinic Medical Informatics Grand Rounds on Use of an EMR-based Registry to Support Clinical Research. Mature EMR systems are quickly become key tools in all aspects of research
Quite a year of opportunities and evolution in my thinking. As you can see, much of my work is shifting from social media in healthcare (although this is still an interest of mine) to research informatics and specifically secondary use of EMR data. More later on what next year might bring.
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Book Review – Connected: The Surprising Power of Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives
February 15, 2012
A colleague loaned me this bookrecently and I found it an easy read with some good concepts. Surprisingly, it is not just about online connectedness but broader concepts of connectedness in life including everything from bucket brigades to sexually transmitted diseases. The theory includes key terms, such as, contagion, connection, homophilia (the tendency to associate with people who resemble ourselves). The contagion concept is particularly significant as it relates to health because of recent research showing that obesity is “contagious” in the sense that if your friends are obese, you are likely to be. It made me think of the app ShapeUpandGo and other wellness apps that encourage the use of teams and competitions/games to encourage connectedness on the path to wellness.
One of the more engaging chapters is on being Hyperconnected with a major example from World of Warcraft and how new features of the game had unexpected consequences that soon careened out of control. This is the unpredictability of the online world were rules are yet to written.
In addition to the book, the website has the usually videos and links to reviews but also a book club guide and a section called Touchgraph which includes some of the network diagrams which are in the book and slide sets relating concepts presented in the book.
The book reminds me of Clay Shirky’s work, Here Comes Everybody and The Wealth of Networks although not in the depth of that work.
In healthcare, we do need to understand how connectedness affects health. The book only covers this with a few of the many case studies. Perhaps another author will take up the task of expanding on this concept and suggest how connectedness can promote health and prevent or delay disease. Also, the concept of connectedness through social media needs more study in terms of how it can impact copying with chronic and live threatening disease. The connectedness of healthcare providers can have a significant impact on promoting best practices, patient safety and research. More on this in future posts.
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Book Reviews: EHRs
February 6, 2012
I recently read two books on EHR/EMRs: one was published in 2007 but still has relevance, the other published in 2010 and focused on implementation.
Electronic Health Records: A Guide for Clinicians and Administrators by Jerome Carter is published by the American College of Physicians is a 500+ page volume written primarily for physicians. The first part of the book is a comprehensive review of EHRs including infrastructure, perspectives on the the use of EHRs for things like outcomes, clinical decision support and quality improvement and legal and privacy issues. The second half of the book is devoted selection and implementation of EHRs with a comprehensive workbook on product features and vendor selection. The majority of the book is still highly relevant with the only exception being some of the information on infrastructure which seems outdated and the lack of discussion of mobile uses of EHRs which is definitely a future goal.
The second book, Keys to EMR/EHR Success: Selecting and Implementing an Electronic Medical Record is also in its second edition. This work by Ronald Sterling begins by walking the reader through the initial questions of why invest in an EMR and how to transition from a practice management system to a full-functioning EMR and how to evaluated the potential legal risks, all common issues for medical practices considering this transition. The author then moves on to product selection and making a decision and negotiating a contract. These implementation details can easily be lost in the selection process and this kind of systematic approach is essential. Finally, the book addresses implementation, activation and support. Again, ongoing support is a common issue for those from the health IT world but not always considered by physicians or practice managers.
Both books provide helpful advice and background for EMR implementation. For those considering an EMR or who want to become familiar with one, these are helpful resources. The book from ACP could also be considered as a textbook in a health informatics curriculum.
New Book on Health Informatics Released
February 2, 2012
The book overall includes a broad variety of chapters reflecting the maturity of health informatics from bioinformatics to clinical informatics. Written as a textbook, it will no doubt serve the growing needs of health informatics programs popping up in every state.
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December 16, 2011
I have an invited article in the current issue of the ACHE Frontiers theme issue on social media in healthcare. My article is titled, “Brand Awareness and Engagement: A Case Study in Healthcare Social Media.” With the help of my colleagues at Cleveland Clinic in Marketing, Communications and CME, I present an overview of some of the successful uses of social media Cleveland Clinic has deployed including the standard Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn sites plus a very active YouTube channel with over 800 videos. Online chats and some new blogs for heart care and rheumatologist are also discussed.
Among the many uses of social media here, I personally think how patients and families engage with a large, academic medical center through Facebook demonstrates engagement best – they use it as a vehicle to show how grateful they are for the medical care and kindness of our physicians and nurses.
This publication is primarily for members of the ACHE but can be purchased. The five articles are a great overview of social media in healthcare currently and could provide a helpful introduction to healthcare leaders in your institutions.
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Blue Zones – Can studying centenarians teach us about wellness?
November 21, 2011
Last week I heard National Geographic writer Dan Buettner talk about Blue Zones - communities with unusual high percentage of centenarians. Can this type of study be instructive to a healthy lifestyle in urban America? I was skeptical. But in the end, I bought the book and buy his Power Nine principles:
- Move Naturally
- Know Your Purpose
- Down Shift
- 80% Rule
- Plant Slant
- Wine at 5
- Family First
- Belong
- Right Tribe
It is encouraging to see these principles being applied to communities around the country.
If you would like to hear him speak, try this popular TED video:
Share this:Book Review – Tweeting LINUX
November 2, 2011
This 300 page book offers a fun approach to what’s more than a reference book on LINUX command lines. Subtitled “140 Linux configuration commands explained in 140 characters or less”, the book provides an alphabetical approach to these commands. In addition to the 140 character summaries, each page provides screen shots and more detailed documentation on the commands. Included in the dictionary are some familiar commands like chmod (change or modify directory permissions) and more esoteric ones like testpharm (checks the smb.conf file for correctness).
So if you want a Linux reference that has a fun approach, pick up a copy.
Other books by Don R. Crawley include Linux administration and IT customer service.
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Book Review: The Googlization of Everything
August 27, 2011
This book by Siva Vaidhyanathan has the provocative subtitle “And why we should worry”, which defines the subtext of the book questioning whether the “Do no evil” search engine company has become something else as a result of its efforts to monetize everything. The book covers the broad domains that Google impacts modern life and discusses the predominant thinking driving the company – “faith in aptitude and technology” and infrastructure imperialism.”
The two pivotal chapters are “The Googlization of Knowledge” and “The Googlization of Memory”. The former deals primarily with the Google Book project and makes a point about the importance of preserving knowledge in the digital age, particularly preserving out-of-print books. But, the author cautions, should a for profit company hold such a public trust that has traditionally been held by public libraries. Similarly, in the latter, the author questions whether “Google is making use stupid” or not. Does consuming snippets of knowledge limit our ability to read for extended periods and reflect?And what impact does it have on education, particularly higher education? Both are valid questions and it may be that the way we think and consume information is changing. However, not all of this is due to Google as much as it is to social media and Wikipedia. Consumption of knowledge is becoming the ability to think critically about the volume of available information and not be controlled by the filters and overload of information. Understanding knowledge algorithms rather than being subservient to them is the key.
In conclusion, the author proposes a bold new project, The Human Knowledge Project, which appeals to the need to have more public control over knowledge through libraries and democratic processes rather than commercial interests. One might agree with him since the recent demise of Google Health. If Google Books are not profitable in 5-10 years, will this project also be abandoned leaving the legacy of digitalized books behind? Yet much of the books skepticism about Google and fears are overdrawn. Perhaps Google’s service to higher education through Gmail and other services will help it keep a commitment to educational and knowledge resources in the future.
This book by Siva Vaidhyanathan has the provocative subtitle “And why we should worry”, which defines the subtext of the book questioning whether the “Do no evil” search engine company has become something else as a result of its efforts to monetize everything. The book covers the broad domains that Google impacts modern life and discusses the predominant thinking driving the company – “faith in aptitude and technology” and infrastructure imperialism.”
The two pivotal chapters are “The Googlization of Knowledge” and “The Googlization of Memory”. The former deals primarily with the Google Book project and makes a point about the importance of preserving knowledge in the digital age, particularly preserving out-of-print books. But, the author cautions, should a for profit company hold such a public trust that has traditionally been held by public libraries. Similarly, in the latter, the author questions whether “Google is making use stupid” or not. Does consuming snippets of knowledge limit our ability to read for extended periods and reflect?And what impact does it have on education, particularly higher education? Both are valid questions and it may be that the way we think and consume information is changing. However, not all of this is due to Google as much as it is to social media and Wikipedia. Consumption of knowledge is becoming the ability to think critically about the volume of available information and not be controlled by the filters and overload of information. Understanding knowledge algorithms rather than being subservient to them is the key.
In conclusion, the author proposes a bold new project, The Human Knowledge Project, which appeals to the need to have more public control over knowledge through libraries and democratic processes rather than commercial interests. One might agree with him since the recent demise of Google Health. If Google Books are not profitable in 5-10 years, will this project also be abandoned leaving the legacy of digitalized books behind? Yet much of the books skepticism about Google and fears are overdrawn. Perhaps Google’s service to higher education through Gmail and other services will help it keep a commitment to educational and knowledge resources in the future.
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