OCTOBER - 20188In My OpinionThe way it was...As we all know and remember, not only has the healthcare sector changed immensely, but over the past 30 years the world has gone from being non-technical to everything we touch is now technically connected, or based on technology.I can recall as a young boy my parents calling our family doctor and the doctor responding by visiting us at home. Patient records were on paper and physicians focused just as much on building a relationship with your family, as they did on treating the patient. In short, there used to be more of a personal relationship with your practitioner. Fast forward and that personal relationship between physician and patient have become more distant, a different kind of professionalism. Treatment of the patient is now based on data analytics and what I'd now call Technical Genetics of a hospital and its patients.Asking patients to fill out forms, and transferring those forms manually from registration, to lab, to radiology is history. The government has interceded by creating a mandate that medical facilities capture and analyze all patient data, and share that data electronically with other practitioners.GENETICS OF HOSPITAL TECHNOLOGYEdward Neville Maltass, CIO, El Centro Regional Medical CenterByDuring the transition over the years from the personal and manual processes, to professional and automated processes ­ there have been major improvements. Today, more than ever, patient records are easily shared between a private physician's office, hospital, and patient. Sharing of records and coordination of care ensure patient safety such as identifying drug allergies, which has the potential of saving lives.El Centro Regional Medical Center believes that adopting technology and embracing the new professionalism doesn't mean that we abandon the personal customer service that is so important to our patients and our community.While my AMAZING Information Systems Department and TEAM focuses on migrating data centers, standardizing hardware and software, updating infrastructure and consolidating a best in breed electronic medical record (EMR) mentality to a one patient one record system, our leadership team which is headed by Dr. Adolph Edward, reminds us every day that healthcare is personal and the focus is on the patient.The focus on the patient and personal customer service started with changing the work culture, and creating a "team
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