And Why Chiefy is Not ‘Slack for Surgery’ — This week I attended a fascinating webinar where a hospital executive described the implementation journey of a HIPAA-compliant chat tool in the hospital. In the age of Slack and WhatApp it’s a bit crazy that you need a 45 minutes’ webinar to explain the benefits of connecting groups of professionals…

The pre-op surgical team huddle is a game-changer. It is also impossible to sustain. — An overwhelming majority of surgical team members report communication challenges We talked to 90 perioperative clinicians and stakeholders. Nurses, anesthesiologists, surgeons, scrub technologists, vendor reps, intra-op monitoring, residents, fellows. Over 94% reported challenges with perioperative communication. These challenges result in miscommunication errors, delays, waste and stress. They also impact patient outcomes.

Four facts and three predictions — Fact 1: It has been over ten years since the last disruption in surgical patient safety. The last disruption was something that many people assumed was already happening. A 19 questions paper checklist that assures the basic stuff: that the team members introduce themselves, that it’s the right patient, the right procedure, the right limb. …

Timeline of electronic health record systems in US Hospitals — In most modern health systems, the clinicians’ digital experience is dominated by the Electronic Health Record system (EHR). Clinicians (i.e. health professionals that care for patients — including physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and others) spend hours managing and documenting clinical processes on these systems. …

From Software Development to Surgery — “The word “silo” does not just refer to a physical structure or organization (such as a department). It can also be a state of mind. Silos exist in structures. But they exist in our minds and social groups too. Silos breed tribalism. But they can also go hand in hand…

If you ride the New York Metro-North Harlem line from Grand Central station these days, you will see the NYU Langone Health signs flaunting the hospital’s “A” rating for patient safety dominating the station billboards. This is great. …

Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Collaboration Over dinner, I had a conversation with my kid on how asynchronous communication took over our lives. “We didn’t always have text messages, you know”, I told her. “So you only had WhatsApp?”, she scoffed. “We actually had to talk to someone every time we wanted to say something”. The…

Bringing surgical teams closer to patients — How can surgery be safer and more efficient? By bringing the surgeon and the surgical team closer to the patient, earlier. Or “shifting left”. Isn’t “shifting left” a tech thing? “Shifting left” is a software development term coined in 2001. …

In the coming decade, the demand for surgical procedures is expected to continue growing. Advances in surgery create opportunities to improve the quality of life in ways that were not imaginable before, and as the population ages, more surgery is needed. Hips and knees need to be replaced; spines and…