Unified Communications in Healthcare

Unified Communications (UM): “A commonly used term for the integration of disparate communications systems, media, devices and applications. This potentially includes the integration of fixed and mobile voice, e-mail, instant messaging, desktop and advanced business applications, Internet Protocol (IP)-PBX, voice over IP (VoIP), presence, voice-mail, fax, audio video and web conferencing, unified messaging, unified voicemail, and whiteboarding into a single environment offering the user a more complete but simpler experience” – Wikipedia.

Yup, as with WiFi and Virtualization, Unified Communications is a major enabler in the world of Healthcare Informatics. I’m not the only one who thinks so, Microsoft, CISCO and even IBM thinks so too. Thats right, Carestream Health just announced at RSNA that they will integrate and sell a key component of the IBM Unified Communications and Collaboration (UC2) platform—IBM Lotus Sametime.

Is this idea new? Not at all, I’ve been hearing proposals about integrating Instant Messanging and VoIP in the world of Radiology Informatics for years but there is always some hiccups – most hospitals have PABX for their phone systems and no one can gurantee a 100% uptime for their network.

Without a guarante that VoIP will be reliable as the existing phone lines, hospitals will have to maintain 2 infrastructure if they choose to do UM, which isn’t so ‘unified’ then.

Don’t get me wrong, I use a VoIP phone at home, its great in my opnion and I do think that UM will work wonders in improving operation workflow (be it in a healthcare setting or not) but the changes has to happen at the fundamental level – at the physical layer.

The network has to be designed and expanded in the correct manner (this is easier said than done. Seriously) and even if you managed to clear that hurdle, there are other factors that must be taken into consideration – the external network (among many other issues).

Am I bashing UM? Definately not, it is the way to go. But I do have my doubts if the concept can be implemented effectively (yet).

Lets see if 2008 holds something for the world of Unified Communications.

Academic Qualifications : 1 + 1 doesn’t add up to 2

As a member of the SCS (Singapore Computer Society), I get a copy of the society’s magazine (The IT Society) every month and the recent issue just arrived in my letter box. A quick peep at it had me ‘hooked’ with one of it adverts.

As a holder of the CITPM (Certified IT Project Manager), I am entitled to the following exemptions should I take up the NTU (Nanyang Technological University)’s MBA in Management of Information Technology;

1. Management Information Systems (core MBA subject)
2. Contemporary Engineering of Enterprise Software (functional IT subject)
3. Communications Technology and Network Management (functional IT subject)
4. Project Management (functional IT elective)

Now NTU is a relatively good university in the region (as well as in the world) and their MBA programme is actually ranked the top in Singapore (I am not endorsing neither the ranking nor the university) and 4 subjects at the post graduate level usually translates to a Graduate Certificate.

But I’m not exactly excited.

Firstly, I’m not going to take an MBA anytime soon. Yes, I’ve been holding the title of “Manager” for the past 1.5 years with 2 very big (and reputable) companies but I believe that one should only take a MBA (and a good one) after at least 3 years of good managerial experience as to understand and apply the knowledge, the same theory I hold towards professional certifications – One take certifications after gaining real world experience not the other way round.

Back to the topic. I’m not going to take an MBA anytime soon and a quick google on Masters Degree pertaining to IT Management shows that in addition to the the 4 subjects mentioned above, the common subjects are

1. Database Management Systems
2. Information System Security
3. Some relevant business modules

The problem is that I already have qualifications in Database Management (although it is not my forte) and IT Security and made plans to take up Marketing after finishing my MSc Computing. If I want to take other business topics then I’ll do a MBA – which I am not going to do so anytime soon.

So this means if I want to do a Master Degree in IT Management, I’d have to repeat 80% of the modules (wasting time and money) but choosing not to do so means I cannot capitalise all the education gained (most of them on my own expense) as Human Resources will not equal numerous qualifications as a Master Degree.

Whats my point? Nothing, I just feel sore that I cannot hand all the qualifications to a University and claim the relevant academic credits

320 Slice CT

Toshiba America Medical (TMA) Systems has officially introduced their 320 Slice CT.

Named the AquilionONE Dynamic Volume CT scanner, it is the commercial version of the company’s 256-slice beta project (which I’ve been hearing from the folks at TMA for about 4 years now). Equipped with 320 detector elements, the system scans up to 16 cm in one rotation with 0.5 mm resolution. TMA claims that it uses 80 percent less dose than current-generation scanners, as well as less contrast media per exam and accomplishes a complete heart scan in one rotation with uniform contrast and making reconstruction simple.

Looks like 2008 will be a year of more technology updates as well as workflow improvements for Cardiology

Note: I updated the post as the AquilionONE introduced is the 320 Slice (the commercial version of the 256 Slice beta).
Thanks to Michael Steward of ketchum.com

IT giants jumping onto the bandwagon

Alright, so this is not exactly the latest news but Symantec has recently started a Healthcare Division.

This goes to show that the the big players in the ICT industry are seriously making their move into the world of Healthcare IT, we now have Microsoft, Sun, Intel, Cisco, Oracle, SAP, IBM, DELL, EMC and many more big players venturing into this industry.

It is indeed exciting times to be involved in Healthcare Informatics (no, implementing an email server or network in a healthcare setting does not automatically translate to being Healthcare Informatics) as this will seriously increase the efficiency of IT utilisation in the healthcare industry.

So whats the catch?

There is already a huge shortage of Healthcare Informatics professionals (Read :”Shortage of Health-IT Workers Is Limiting Progress”) in the industry, the increasing demands will not make the situation better (although the job offers that keeps coming is a good boost to the ego).

Most importantly, is this another ‘e-commerce hype’ that will result in another ‘bubble burst’?

My peers kept asking me how they can get into the Healthcare IT industry. The problem is, its not that straight forward. Take for example, one cannot do a certification course (or even a Master Degree) and be immediately be able to administrator a PACS because there is more to just the technical aspect (but that doesn’t mean its not important)

Take myself for example, the 4 years I spend in the clinical environment opened my eyes to alot of things that a traditional IT professional would never appreciate – the workflow and operational aspect I learned is priceless, something you cannot learn from reading materials off the Internet (although it helps).

Alright, back to the topic. With increasing demands (but steep learning curve) for Healthcare Informatics Professionals, many traditional IT professionals will be drawn towards this industry but the sad fact of life is, not every IT company will succeed in this industry (one can’t win it all. Period). So what will happen to these people?

I’m abit weary about this turning into another dot com bubble saga (after having witness the aftermath of it) but still, it is indeed exciting times to be in Healthcare Informatics.

Are you part of IT?

A Brief Introduction to Medical Informatics (for Biomedical Engineers)

I was sorting out the files in my laptop and decided to upload a set of lecture slides for a presentation I gave at UniSim (a university in Singapore) some time back.

The objective of the lecture was a quick but straight forward ‘awareness building’ effort to Biomedical Engineers on why Medical (Healthcare) Informatics is important to them although they are not IT professionals.

You can access the slides here 

Note: If you want to use these slides for any purpose, please ask me first. Thanks

I survived 4 days without the Internet

Yup, thats right.

During my 4 days of vacation, I managed to restraint myself from using the Internet (boy was it tough!)

This goes to show that I’m not so addicted to the Internet (4 days in my opinon is a long long time), however,the amount of catching up in terms of work and email is most probably going to raise the level of my caffine consumption

Going on a short trip

Alright, in a few hours time, I’ll be heading to Malaysia for a short leisure trip of 4 days with no access to emails nor the Internet.

I figured that I’ll either finally get that well deserved break or my addiction to the Internet will ‘kill’ me! lol

Till then folks

P.S Keep the messages / comments etc coming in though, you are part of BinaryHealthcare. too!

Moving on to TeleRadiology

Adoption of TeleRadiology is a natural extension of a PACS implementation especially in large medical facilities where these institutes can expand the benefits and advantages of filmless imaging further.

While such implementation has already gain acceptance in the US with these ”nighthawk” radiology services, TeleRadiology is fast gaining momentum in Asia Pacific where adoption and spending of technology is fast growing.

To read more, click here

Yahoo Finance, CNBC, Fox, Reuters, Forbes and RedOrbit

Dear Readers,

Someone told me today that he saw a press release of my previous article in Yahoo Finance, I did a quick google and found that some of my work has also been mentioned in CNBC, Fox, Reuters, Forbes RedOrbit and many more (the rest are web portals for Investor or Researchers).

While I’m extremely honoured, I must also give credits to Ms Jasminder Kuar, the person who sent those press releases.

Thanks a bunch Jas

Healthcare Call-for-Collaboration

Singapore is a country where the government is known for adopting technology in all forms, Healthcare Informatics happens to be one of these areas.

The Inforcomm Development Authority of Singapore is inviting our industry to participate in a Call-for-Collaboration (CFC) for the healthcare sector to bring healthcare providers and the solution providers together to develop or pilot innovative solutions.

While this spells out to being progress in the area of Healthcare Informatics, I’ve yet to see anything new or exciting being offered by the participating companies (yet). The good news is that proposal submission date for interested compaines ends only on 31st  January 2008 so there are ample time for companies to put in their 2 cents worth of ideas.

For vendors reading this blog, visit the “Call-for-Collaboration ” here