3 Ways Healthcare Can Bridge the Gap Between Clinicians and IT

by Nora Lissy | May 10, 2016 | Healthcare

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Business intelligence is causing a paradigm shift in the IT world, especially when it comes to healthcare. It’s not every day that you find someone who is an expert at coding and who also intimately understands the clinical side of the house and the objectives it is aiming for with a business intelligence implementation. Yet that’s what is required in healthcare today, and it is causing a big headache for many hospitals who need to bridge the gap between clinicians and IT, but can’t figure out how to do it.

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What hospitals need is to find clinical people who have a data mind. Without that person, there will continue to be this disconnect where IT can’t understand what the clinical side needs and the clinicians can’t understand the technical work that goes into that. This results in a less-than-ideal business intelligence implementation.

So how can you find that rare gem of a clinician with a data mindset? Here are 3 tips.

1. Find the “go-to” people in the organization

Think about that one person in your organization who you seek out when you need answers. Every business seems to have that “go-to” person. In many cases, every department within an organization has that person. These are the people you can tap into to help define what is needed.

These people don’t have to be clinicians or someone from IT. What’s most important is that this person has a global view of the organization: he or she should be familiar with the clinical side of the house and have an understanding of what needs to happen on the technical side. Business intelligence is a team effort and this person gets that.

2. Search for those with business acumen

Those with business acumen naturally have more data-oriented minds. These people are often one in the same as your “go-to” people in the organization. They are usually the inquisitive ones who are always asking “why.” They don’t take no for an answer and they are always looking for solutions instead of just complaining about problems. You can spot these people by their ability to see the big picture – the whole business operation, not just the singular world in which they work. In addition to being able to see that big picture, they are able to translate needs from one side of the equation to the other.

3. Make ongoing education a priority for your staff

There are many schools and professional programs that offer ongoing education for those in the clinical field. These programs can help clinicians better understand IT. For example, Florida International University offers master’s programs in informational systems for healthcare workers. This type of education allows clinicians to understand the technology side so that instead of just giving an order about what they need from IT, they can be part of the journey to a finished product.

In addition, several schools offer business management programs for physicians. These are not your typical MBAs, but are rather healthcare-related MBAs that allow physicians to understand the operational side of healthcare.

The bottom line

Communication is key when you are bringing clinicians and IT together. Each department should have someone who understands its challenges and can translate what those needs are to the IT department.

In my next blog post: how do you assemble the right healthcare analytics team? We’ll examine 4 roles you need to have (and one you don’t) so you’re getting the most out of your analytics implementation.