By Jennifer Smith, Cerner Sr. Strategist and CommonWell Marketing Chair
Twitter: @CommonWell
Everyone has a story for why they are involved in health IT. Some fell into it by accident. Others love the complexity and the opportunity to solve unique challenges. Regardless of how it came to be, almost everyone has a personal health experience (or experiences!) that fuels their passion for this important work.
When I first started working at Cerner 16 years ago, my professional and personal world almost immediately collided when my mother required an invasive surgery. What was supposed to be an outpatient procedure waterfalled into an almost deadly result. After being admitted, her medical records were not available to her floor nurses, and she was administered a near fatal drug. We never left her bedside again.
Fast forward to this fall when my mother again had to have surgery at a hospital she had never previously been to. This time, her doctors were constantly referencing labs taken at another facility and tracking her medications and updated lab results real time at her bedside. Even when complications arose, they were able to respond immediately, and her care was seamless. (She is doing great; in case you were wondering 😊).
The vastly different patient experience was not lost on my parents or me. In fact, it was a comparison mentioned more than once by both my mom and dad.
I am thankful to work alongside the innovators in our industry who helped shape this new experience and who are continuing to shape the future of health care coordination, delivery and outcomes.
During our most recent CommonWell TV filming, our CommonWell Executive Director and our Director of Product took time to share the “why” behind their passion for improving health IT.
Liz talking about being a cancer survivor.
Paul talking about his newborn daughter
What’s your why? Tweet us at @CommonWell using #WhyHealthIT. To watch the rest of the 2021 CommonWell TV visit commonwell.org.
This article was originally published on Commonwell Health Alliance and is republished here with permission.