As academic medical centers push the envelope of patient care IT, it's important for CIOs to keep research applications up to speed. The reality is that the information systems supporting clinical research generally lag far behind those supporting patient care in terms of funding and interoperability. But that reality is changing. Read our cover story, “Researching Integration,” page 36, to see how CIOs are developing new strategies to support clinical research with IT.
The ICU is one of the most complex areas in the hospital. The increasing number of patients, coupled with severe ICU staffing shortages and an increased focus on patient safety, has driven many CIOs to search out IT solutions. One trend is remote monitoring. Another area of focus is best-of-breed documentation in the ICU environment. But for both remote monitoring and best of breed, interoperability issues loom large. In our clinical beat, “I See You,” page 12, we look at some of these solutions and hear what CIOs have learned from their implementations.
A lack of tight standards is the bane of a CIO's existence. In this issue, HCI takes a look at what standards bodies, the government and private organizations are doing to disseminate real standards into the HIT universe — and allow CIOs to put away the aspirin. Find out which major milestone in the standards race was recently achieved in “Setting the Standards Stage,” page 34.
Though document management is said to be the first crucial step in going electronic, even some sophisticated IDNs don't have all of their papers in order. With the lines blurring between document management and EMR software, how do CIOs know which solution is right for them? Read “Corralling Documents,” page 22, to see what the Cleveland Clinic is doing in this challenging area — and the results it's already achieved.
Sidebar
Correction: The December Clinical Department story on EDIS stated that AllScripts was the highest KLAS-ranked vendor in that category. In fact, that designation belongs to WellSoft. AllScripts was top-rated in the July 2007 KLAS EDIS Perception Study.
