Comments on: Monday Morning Update 5/5/08

By: WiseGuyinOhio

WiseGuyinOhio — Mon, 05 May 2008 20:20:46 +0000

The Secretary of Transportation may be likened more to the CEO, in that the CEO has the highest perspective on the total business and most certainly needs less detailed knowledge of the technical aspects – and is generally best they have strong ability to communicate and persuade, etc. A CIO, on the otherhand, is answerable to the tech aspects and responsible for tech direction and depth, as well as expected level of employee technical expertise. It’s a balancing act, because they need to understand the foundations enough to have a world-class BS meter (which comes from education and experience) ; but they also need enough confident leadership qualities to stand back and not micromanage. Either technical ignorance or management ineptness seem to end up with big troubles.

It’s good to see (I’m not in academia, btw) that some universities are finally beginning to deal with the realities of health informatics in a way that actually matters. There aren’t too many yet, but it’s a beginning . The same thing happened with Computer Science degrees. In the early ’80s, a few colleges began offering a BSCS degree because it was a hot issue, but the content behind it was rediculous. A good programmer out of the local 2-year tech school was many times more valuable than any BSCS degree of the day. It took a few years before that degree began to have more meaningful substance generally, and I think that’s happening with health informatics today.

I’ve never been CEO or CIO, and I have few credentials of my own – so this is just my humble opinion.

By: RNHITTrainer

RNHITTrainer — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:27:13 +0000

I meant….are you sure these aren’t recycled rumors? Sorry for the error.

By: BostonHITman

BostonHITman — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:26:30 +0000

Recent political history aside, When selecting cabinet members, would a new administration feel that it would be a bad decision to appoint someone as the Secretary of Transportation if that person didn’t have a pilot’s license, a license and experience driving a bus or perhaps having served as the captain of “The Love Boat”???

By: RNHITTrainer

RNHITTrainer — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:26:08 +0000

Re: Baylor – Are you sure these are recycled rumors regarding the Baylor shake-up of 2006? I find it hard to believe the same thing is happening again and so soon.

By: Skeptical of Academics

Skeptical of Academics — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:52:21 +0000

To Terminal Stare: Who has the agenda for improving healthcare and IT? The person that questions the academic credentials for CIO’s or the person that has already garnered the trust of stakeholders in the industry and landed the job of CIO (with or without a master’s degree). There is no good excuse for Terminal Stare’s questions. He/She is either an unemployed CIO wannabe with a Master’s degree or someone in academia trying to drive admissions. I’m guessing it is the former. In reality very little of what I’ve learned in academia in either my bachelor’s or master’s program (both fully accredited) has been relevant to healthcare IT needs. It is more about what the professors and deans want to teach rather than what the industry needs. The best way to prepare for being a healthcare CIO is a very good question. Especially with financial systems maturing relative to clinical and collaboration.