From HIMSS with Dr. Jayne 3/11/24

Monday was my travel day since I couldn’t justify an extra hotel night and had other more exciting things to do. I was tempted to wear some mouse ears just so I could feel like I was fitting in with the rest of the crowd. Traveling to Orlando during spring break isn’t my favorite thing to do, although HIMSS seems to think it’s the best thing ever.

I was sad to receive a couple of emails and texts from people I had hoped to connect with at the conference but who wouldn’t be attending. One had become sick during travel last week and decided to keep his germs to himself, which I fully appreciate. Another had her travel withdrawn by her employer at the last minute. Seems like poor planning given the non-cancelable nature of most hotel and airline reservations, but there are plenty of poor decisions that happen in healthcare IT every day.

My home airport was a hot mess, with the TSA PreCheck line stretching about four times longer than I’ve ever seen it. Some of us were tempted to hop into the regular line, which was much shorter, but overly aggressive airport staff were turning away TSA PreCheck holders from that checkpoint and directing them to the back of our line. It turns out that before 6 a.m., there is only one person checking IDs on the PreCheck lane even though they were running three x-ray machines. Once 7 a.m. rolled around, another two ID agents were deployed and the backlog was quickly cleared. Still, there were plenty of people griping about it and one guy who claimed to have missed his flight, but it’s just one more thing to reassure those of us who are habitually early that we should continue our routines.

There were some badly behaved travelers on my flight, and they looked to be of the business traveler variety, so they should have known better. I was flying Southwest Airlines, where checked bags fly free, and the gate agent was very clear about the fact that there were 140 people ticketed on our flight and only 40 checked bags. She noted that a quick count of bags in the gate area made it look like they would have to do some last-minute gate checking and encouraged people to check their bags in advance. Of course, people didn’t comply, which made for chaos in the aisle as people couldn’t find places for their bags.

The cranky traveler in question was boarding position C20-something, which for those of you who don’t routinely fly Southwest, means he was one of the last people to board and of course that he had to check his roller bag. He was angry about that and then huffed about in the cabin because there was nowhere to put his backpack, lamenting that “this effing backpack never fits under the seat.” As a student of the English language, the “never” implies that he has experienced non-fitting of the bag multiple times previously but chooses to carry it anyway. First, there’s no reason to curse on a flight full of small children, and second, his discomfort seemed to be self-inflicted and I have little sympathy for that.

My flight was smoothed by my complimentary margarita, and after a nice nap, I emerged from my flight and found the HIMSS registration desk located in the airport baggage claim. I had printed my QR code, so badge pickup took about 60 seconds, which made me happy. The taxi line was nearly non-existent, but I had booked a last-minute discounted rental car, so I was quickly on my way. The hotel gods smiled on me with an early check-in, and from there I was on my way to take the long hike to the convention center. The weather was gorgeous with minimal humidity compared to what we usually experience in Orlando.

The opening reception kicked off with a bang, or at least a rat-a-tat-tat, as a neon-adorned drum line played in the lobby. From there, they proceeded up the escalator to the now-open doors of the reception room. Initially, there was an overactive fog machine that was making me cough, but the mist dissipated quickly. There was entertainment with acrobats on neon-adorned hula hoops, some kind of robot-looking character in an LED costume, and a DJ with lots more neon on display. The drum line made another appearance partway through the reception.

Food lines and bar lines were reasonable and the room wasn’t too crowded, although as we were leaving it appeared that a lot of the party had shifted into the lobby, probably because of the volume in the room. Overall, the vibe seemed positive. Following the reception there were a number of private parties, but after a quick round of drinks with friends, I called it a night and headed back to plot tomorrow’s adventures.

Plenty of organizations are hosting happy hours on the exhibit hall floor, which always makes me happy to reach the end of the day. I’m hoping there will be some scones or other good treats as well, but as usual I’ll settle for wine. IMO (booth 2251) won the booth happy hour advertising game with their email offering wine pairings for various healthcare IT goals. In case you’re curious:

• Simplified clinical documentation pairs best with chardonnay.
• Standardized condition and treatment data goes well with pinot grigio.
• Meaningful problem lists are better with merlot (and I would agree).
• Streamlined OR scheduling is best with reisling (personally I’d put that with optimized patient education, but that’s just me).

I’ll offer some additional pairings for those of you who prefer spirits: lab crosswalk review goes best with vodka, marketing workshops definitely require beachy rum drinks, and the art of constructing governance documents most certainly pairs best with bourbon.

What are your favorite healthcare IT and beverage pairings? Leave a comment or email me.

Email Dr. Jayne.