Everything I learned at HIMSS 2018 — by Nurse Whende
Whende Carroll, MSN RN BC, Director, Nursing Informatics, KenSci
What a five-day extravaganza that was! Sin city + healthcare IT = a combination that revolutionizes the way healthcare executives and their organizations view the industry.. Between March 5th and 9th, HIMSS18 exposed those interested in HIT to what’s happening now and what to expect in the future.
My main take away from HIMSS18 was that artificial intelligence and predictive analytics ruled the conversation. There was an enormous feeling of excitement around using advanced analytics for patient engagement and healthcare cost savings. Clinicians, organizations, and vendors are enthralled with and are using AI and predictive analytics to solve a multitude of problems including controlling healthcare costs, engaging patients more effectively and serving the Quadruple Aim, particularly elevating clinician productivity.
As for Nursing Informatics, there were several sessions and events specific to this specialty.
The Preconference Nursing Informatics Symposia included speakers discussing thoughts and sharing experiences about effective and efficient clinical documentation, using predictive analytics solutions to serve the quadruple aim and show value to nursing care delivery, surviving cybersecurity threats, implementing and improving telehealth, and the role of nurses in public health informatics. A Nursing Informatics Roundtable was also held by the HIMSS Nursing Informatics Community, established to provide domain expertise, leadership and guidance to HIMSS activities, initiatives, and collaborations with the global nursing informatics community. The session format was a forum moderated by Microsoft’s Molly McCarthy, MBA, RN, with three national informatics nurse leaders, discussing current projects, including the development of a digital hospital in New York, and the highlights of their nursing informatics careers. The Roundtable was followed by a reception for the NI Community to celebrate the conference.
Two specific events for Women in HIT were held during the conference — the Women in HIT Networking event, and at the HIMSS18 Awards Gala where three nurse leaders were recognized as the Most Influential Women in Health IT.
Their contributions included the positively using innovation to transform health and healthcare, support of strategic initiatives in their organizations, having a spirit of innovation and mentoring the next generation of nurse informaticists.
It was a fantastic conference, not only for fanatics of HIT and Nurse Technologists but also for women in health information technology. The continued thirst for innovations was palpable, mainly seeing the fruits and beginnings of collaborations between HIT vendors and healthcare organizations to move the needle toward quality, cost-effective care.
KenSci was at HIMSS 2018 as a part of Microsoft’s booth, showcasing our clinical and operational analytics solution. Apart from incredible interactions with visitors, the highlights were:
- Whende Carroll, Director of Nursing Informatics, KenSci, along with Nancee Hofmeister, SVP, and Chief Nursing Officer, EvergreenHealth presented at the Nursing Informatics Session on Day one, where they dove deep into the value of Predictive Analytics in nursing care. Announcement here
- Samir Manjure, CEO, KenSci presented the impact of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare during a lunch and learn session with Microsoft
3. Dr. T. Greg McKelvey Jr., Chief Medical Officer, KenSci and Richard Barnhill from the US Army Medical Corps about the role of technology innovation in military healthcare.
4. One of our close advisors, Dr. Shafiq Rab, CIO, Rush Medical Center was also present on stage for a panel discussion with Alysa Taylor, General Manager Business Applications and Industry, Microsoft, and Jaclyn Wainwright, CEO, AiR Healthcare Solutions, discussing case studies of transforming care on the cloud.
And finally, what a moment it was! KenSci, along with Kaiser Permanente, won the Microsoft Healthcare Innovation Award in the ML and AI category. The astonishing work in successfully using machine learning models to predict and stratify congestive heart failure patients who were at the highest risk of 30-day hospital readmission, low ejection fraction, and mortality was recognized as a significant innovative venture.
