Whether Actionable or Adorable, Data Takes Patience (& Patient-centeredness)

What gets in the way of your habits and routines while simultaneously bringing many rewards? In my home, the answer is this puppy that my family recently adopted and, conveniently, the kids named Data. 

They didn’t know Mom was deep into the challenges CVB readers face upon opening their doors to reams of new data. As you’ll see in the cover story and our operational excellence roundtable, there’s no shortage of opportunities on both the clinical and the administrative sides of healthcare’s digital revolution. 

We brought Data home with certain goals. She’s to be a trail dog, intimidating unsavory characters when she runs with our daughter on wooded paths. She’ll be proxy and playmate for our older dog, who no longer keeps pace with our mountain-biker son. I have high hopes that Data will grow into these roles, just as you and your leadership likely have great expectations for your data troves. 

Of course, there are downsides. My cats are stressed, my desk scarred by Data’s teeth. I’ve cleaned up a lot of puddles. I’ll skip the bad metaphors and just acknowledge that volunteering to let a puppy turn your world upside down for a few months is hardly on par with embracing the mountains of data dumped on today’s cardiology teams. Still, wasn’t it data that fueled cardiology's golden age? Remember Andreas Gruentzig’s chalkboard? Doesn’t your data’s disruptive potential give you goosebumps?

No doubt, there are perils, so I’ll offer a few suggestions. First, as you know, even the best analytics won’t replace human interaction; protect your time with patients and colleagues. Next, focus on the patient-centered metrics; the rest will follow. And, finally, try to be patient. It takes time to turn a mess into a masterpiece, but our conversations with innovators suggest data really can become a doc’s best friend. 

Kathy Boyd David, Editor
kbdavid@cardiovascularbusiness.com