In this industry, I’m not supposed to ever be late. I’m just not. I’m not supposed to ever miss a deadline. Ever. But what happens when I am? My big day was supposed to be four days ago only it wasn’t. Instead of Friday the 13th (cue the soundtrack of “Friday the 13th”and “A Nightmare on Elm Street”) as being my son’s big debut, he decided not to show up. But as he grows bigger, his real estate shrinks and I’m left going to the hospital for lots of non-stress tests to make sure he’s not in any type of cardiac distress. The first test stressed me out, as did the second as he was napping and the nurse had to wake him up with a buzzer, but with the third was fine, and the fourth was “a perfect test,” the nurse said (probably on account of the sugar from the apple I’d eaten) just eaten. As I lay on the table yesterday, watching the machine spit out a sheet of paper with his heartbeat, movement and my contractions noted, I thought about how much of health IT is not just about caring for patients when something goes wrong, it’s about making sure that things go right.
