Effective Engagement through Technology

At Phoenix Children’s Hospital, we have made this possible with the help of a generous grant from the Cox Family Foundation. The in-room patient iPad automatically transforms each time a new patient is admitted to the room to display age-appropriate apps and educational material fitting his or her language preference. Patients (and families) can use the iPad to connect to their social media accounts with confidence the devices will erase and clear private history upon their discharge from the hospital. Using patented device management automation invented at Phoenix Children’s, staff do not have the chore of checking iPads in and out for each stay and families have the convenience to use a dedicated iPad in their room for the entire stay.

This private, personalized device concept has become so popular over the last two years at Phoenix Children’s we deployed over 400 iPads in our patient rooms. Patient parents love that only approved content is available to their child, and patients love the freedom to choose their own entertainment and education using a modern-day device. The iPads bring a much-welcomed distraction to some of the monotony a hospital room can bring.

Strong Working Principles

As a CIO, interaction with end users is crucial. Instead of sitting in meeting after meeting, it is important to communicate with the people impacted by our solutions. I spend many hours each week interacting with doctors, patients, their families, and the hospital staff, to understand their challenges and brainstorm ways to improve their healthcare experience. While performing administrative tasks is important, human interaction helps pinpoint factors we may otherwise overlook. Likewise, it is important to understand the nuances of each staff member’s job function so they have tools that are hyper-tuned to the tasks they have to perform—providing assistance rather than annoyance.

Over the years, the role of hospital CIOs has greatly evolved. Previously the role demanded that we build and maintain technical infrastructure, and manage large system selections, implementations and budgets. In today’s world, it is imperative CIOs ensure they understand the organization’s core clinical, business objectives and the technology supporting those goals, rather than just buying and implementing the latest and greatest technical solutions vendors present.

Achieving Value with Clinical Integration

While I have 25 years’ experience in the technology industry, I am a CIO who first trained as an accountant and I learned about technology as a hobby and on the job. This background makes me very aware of a hospital CIO’s responsibility to bridge technology and its functions to an industry inherently based on human interactions. There is an important balance between using technology to assist an expert doing their job, and technology that dictates how work is done. As healthcare technologists, we must continue to refine our skills to be more precise and adapt technology to what healthcare providers and patients need—not what we think they should use. The CIO has a critical role gluing together the worlds of healthcare and information technology, and we should always remember our primary role is a facilitator and educator, rather than an engineer or programmer.

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