Maybe People Now Will Understand What I Do For a Living

It has always been a challenge to articulate to most people outside of healthcare what I do for a living. I don't find this unusual as it involves some specialized knowledge.

Today's front pages of the NY Times and Wall Street Journal and the lead story on CNN.com, however, are going a long way towards explaining at least a sizeable chunk. I work with healthcare providers in various settings (e.g. hospitals, community health centers, private practices) to achieve improved patient outcomes and organizational efficiency through technology enablement. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are a big part of that, and I have been working with them since the early '80s.

For the most part, computers automate a business process. It may be complex, but it is still very black & white, if/then type of computing. Using computers in clinical care, however, is automating something that is part science and part art - a much more significant challenge.

With all the attention being focused now on EHRs, I am optimistic that more people will understand what I do, and that my mom will stop referring to me as a "computer jock."

My iPhone Report

I have had a Blackberry for many years and loved it. The interface was intuitive, it did what I needed it to do, and was stable as a rock. Unfortunately, my firm no longer supports them and I had to choose between a Windows Mobile device or an iPhone 3G.

Being a Windows kinda guy, I was very heavily leaning towards a WinMo device (the HTC Fuze) for a host of reasons most of which are too technical for this diatribe. I ended up, however, going with an iPhone. My Blackberry experience was actually one of the reasons – I liked that I had one place to go if I had any support questions or issues on both the software and the device itself – something not available in a WinMo device. Here then, are my musings on the good and the bad.

The Good

• The design – just can’t beat it
• HTML e-mail – yippee!!
• An excuse to hang out at the Apple store
• Small form factor
• Incredible web surfing experience – especially when using Wi-Fi
• Free use of AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots including all Starbucks
• YouTube videos that stream beautifully and with good sound
• The App Store – OMG! What ingenious and useful tools, many for free, others for as little as $0.99. My favorites include preflight and Flight Update (very helpful for frequent travelers like myself), OpenTable (utilizes the GPS to find restaurants near you), and the Google app which includes voice search capability that is pretty darned accurate. Of course my kids’ favorite is iFart (iPhone therefore iFart?).
• Incredibly easy to use out of the box and setting up multiple e-mail accounts was a snap
• The camera is pretty darned good even if it doesn’t have a flash
• Voice quality is decent, though I’d like a tad bit more volume for my aging ears
• Same cables and power adapters as my iPod so I have multiples for home, office and traveling
• So far, very good 3G signal in NYC and Boston – haven’t traveled elsewhere with it yet
  

The Bad

• No physical keyboard. Although I’m better after some use, my fat fingers still can’t type as fast as I could on a BB. And the Apple e-mail function does not support using the keyboard in landscape mode the way that the Safari browser does. I did get a $0.99 app called Big KeyBoard which is a little klugey but helps.
• No cut & paste function. Never realized how much I used it until it was gone.
• No multiple e-mail signatures. I have a different sig for my work and personal accounts, but the iPhone only supports one sig for all messages sent from the device.
• Battery life sucks – especially compared to a BB. Can’t get through a full day even with relatively light usage and keeping Wi-Fi and GPS turned off.
• Ringer is not terribly loud, even at the highest setting.

All in all, it is definitely a fun toy. I got it just before the holidays so haven’t really tested it a lot from a work or business travel standpoint. I do, however, feel like I joined a club which was once relatively exclusive. Now that Wal-Mart will be selling them, I just don’t know . . .

UPDATE: Forgot to mention that it is also, essentially, an iPod providing all the audio and video capabilities of that fine device, though the videos are on a much bigger screen on the iPhone. I still keep a separate iPod because I don't want to drain the battery on the phone, I keep my entire music library and a sizable video library on the iPod (which won't fit on the iPhone) and also hook up my iPod to hotel televisions when I travel (though you can do the same with the iPhone).

I also figured out that if I create ringtones from music, the volume is much louder. Now, if you're standing anywhere near me and Sweet Home Alabama starts to blast from my pants, you'll know my phone is ringing.

Robin Williams Clip

This clip of Robin Williams performing in England shortly after Obama was elected is quite good, and I especially like his reference to the fact that with George W. Bush now almost out of office, the "Reign of Error" is coming to an end.