There is a new kid on the block, HWC, otherwise known by the title of this post. What does this have to do with Health Train Express? Well since there are limited hours in my day I will be publishing Health Train Express less often. Regular readers may have noticed the frequency of the posts here have diminished.
I was invited to add some exclusive content to HWC. This week the first article is on the entrance of Google Plus into the Social Media Stream for Physicians, along with the demise of Google Health.
It may be that snail mail, memorandums, yellow sticky pads, and even email or plain old chat have been dealt another blow.
eBooks are now also ‘The Rage’ as some large book franchises like Borders Books are in ICUs being resuscitated as we write.
No Sentimentality
There is no use getting sentimental about these trends, said Jame Gleik in yesterday’s New York Times, “Stop Being Sentimental about Books.” He should know. He has written a 2011 best-seller The Information : A History , a Theory, a Flood .
Go with the flow of history, Gleick says,”An object like this (A book) – a talisman, is like a coffin at a funeral. It deserves to be honored, but the soul has passed on.”
Will this be true for medical journals, and medical texts as well? Once upon a time, chat, email, were innovations whose time may be passing replaced by newer trends. As time advances the library of the past has morphed as well giving way to added space for terminals, and fewer book shelves. Access to libraries are immediately available in the classroom and laboratory by Wi-Fi connectivity.
These changes are fueled now by new anthropomorphic advances in computing hardware, Only imagination limits what is possible. The smartphone gives immediate access to voice, chat, video, application software for disease, medications, treatment algorithms, CDC warnings, FDA alerts, and EMR access to patient’s medical records.
I began writing a blog almost eight years ago for a specific purpose as an easy platform to write about Health Information Exchange.
Since that time, ONCHIT, RHIOs, EMRs, HIT, HIE, HITECH, ACOs, The Patient Affordability and Care Act, and a major economic recession have passed over us in a wave.
Healthcare, medical practice have changed right under our feet, a very noticeable event, that somehow or other occurs all the while our patients continue to become ill, diagnosed, treated, sometimes healed. The uninsured have some hope of medical care.
I am cautiously optimistic that physicians will survive amidst the turmoil of change.