Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT / Karen Hunter, CNIO at Adventist Health

Transcript

Karen Hunter, CNIO at Adventist Health · Becker’s Healthcare Digital Health + Health IT

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  Philips is a health tech leader focused on
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  innovation that improves the health and well-being of
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  people. Our health care technology and informatics solutions
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  help care teams diagnose, treat, and manage more
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  the care journey. With Philips, clinicians are empowered
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  with streamlined insights in the moments that matter
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  for every patient. Better care for more people.
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  Philips.
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  Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Health Care
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  podcast recorded live at the 9th annual health
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  IT, digital health, and RCM conference in Chicago.
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  We're joined today by Karen Hunter, chief nursing
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  informatics officer at Adventist Health. Karen, to get
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  us started, can you please tell us a
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  little bit about yourself, your background, and your
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  role
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  at your organization? Yes. Good afternoon, Jeremy.
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  I'm the chief nursing informatics officer, as you
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  said, and I work for Adventist Health. We're
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  a $8,000,000,000
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  revenue, 28 hospital, roughly 400 clinics,
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  system in the West Coast based out of
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  Roseville, California.
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  In my role, I leverage mostly my nursing
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  background. Was a bedside nurse for roughly
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  9 years, then went into management for 6
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  years. While I was there, we had a
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  fatal medical error.
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  It got my attention. I, a 17 year
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  old girl came in with a heart and
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  lung transplant,
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  and discovered the organs donated were the wrong
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  blood type. And it taught me the power
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  of data. Now one, erroneous piece of data
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  cost this girl her life. And so I
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  looked at how does technology help us be
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  better, better clinicians,
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  better operators,
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  and so forth. So I went back to
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  school, got my master's in nursing informatics, never
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  looked back.
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  Mhmm. So AI adoption is exploding in health
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  care. In your view, what would you say
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  is the most significant or promising application of
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  this technology right now?
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  And, how is this informing your organization's innovation
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  strategy?
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  Absolutely. I think this is huge. This is
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  gonna transform health care. I I know I'm
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  not alone in that opinion.
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  The most significant and promising application today is
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  augmenting
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  clinicians,
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  making them better, smarter, safer,
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  not replacing them, not doing their job for
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  them, but surfacing information, analyzing it, you know,
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  at lightning speed and being able to
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  pull that up, apply algorithms, and surface,
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  and help the clinician prioritize what's going on
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  with the patient, identifying those soft spots in
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  the clinical picture that may not be so
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  evident at first look, first glance.
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  We are moving forward at Adventist Health. We're
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  on a 2 year journey to replace our
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  EHR with a new system and we're going
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  to embed AI in this.
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  But I'm happy to say we do have
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  a nursing focused AI strategy or solution in
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  place right now,
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  which helps,
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  nurses in the emergency room adequately assess
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  patients. So the nurse enters their assessment in
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  the HR.
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  When they click submit, immediately pops up with
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  a confirmation
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  or suggestion. You might consider additional factors in
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  this patient's condition that could, make them a
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  higher priority to be seen in the emergency
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  room. We found it very helpful with throughput
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  and really have come to rely on it
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  as a effective guide.
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  Again, however, it still remains with the nurse
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  whether to accept that decision or not.
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  So health care leaders are managing greater volumes
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  of data and more devices
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  populations.
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  In this complex environment, what clinical data integration
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  tools or practices
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  are you seeing drive improvements in patient outcomes
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  and operations? And do you mind sharing a
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  couple examples?
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  Absolutely.
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  I remember when I was working in ICU,
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  we had an, I think at that time,
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  an average of 19 different pieces of clinical
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  equipment in the room. And I used to
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  joke that we had to be able to
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  troubleshoot any one of those in the time
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  it takes you to hold your breath
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  because a critical,
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  care patient was relying on them.
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  So nurses are not new to managing all
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  this information and, and coming forward.
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  However,
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  interoperability
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  is not,
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  as robust as it could be. And I
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  think that's a fundamental thing that we often
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  forget in chasing the next shiny object.
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  But simply ensuring that, like, our vital signs
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  machines
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  are integrated to the HR.
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  If we wait for someone to manually enter
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  those vital signs, we risk, you know, mistakes.
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  We risk omissions.
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  Mhmm. And, also we don't get the benefit
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  of the real time data analysis and tools
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  that are in the system.
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  So I think this is a fundamental thing,
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  interoperability, making sure all that data is flowing
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  seamlessly in real time between systems.
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  So how can health care organizations better support
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  IT and clinical teams as they carry out
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  innovation efforts? And, what are some of the
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  common pitfalls here? Wow. This is a good
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  question because
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  everyone is so passionate in health care. Our
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  IT colleagues,
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  could make more money elsewhere, but they choose
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  to work in health care because they feel
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  called to,
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  support patients and drive patient care.
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  But they don't always understand the language of
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  the clinician. And that's a particular,
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  value my role brings the organization is that
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  the goal between to help translate between the
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  two specialties
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  Mhmm. And translate what the priorities are. Think
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  we have to work together. We have to
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  forge this math together and continue to work
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  on understanding each other, trusting each other.
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  The common pitfalls, you know, just miscommunication and
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  misunderstanding each other.
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  But roles like mine and informatics can help
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  with that.
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  So based on your experience in the health
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  care industry, what is your top piece of
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  advice for other leaders as they prepare for
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  further advancements in technology and greater demands for
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  care? I've been waiting for this question.
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  As we move forward, we have to maintain
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  rigor and discipline around all of our activities.
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  We can't just grab onto a shiny object
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  because it's popular, the pool kids have it,
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  or the hospital across the street has it.
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  Right? We have to think about what is
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  it we're trying to accomplish? What is the
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  problem we're trying to solve?
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  We have to apply metrics and continuously evaluate.
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  Are we achieving our goals? And then we
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  can't be afraid to cut the cord and
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  just say, this is not working out. This
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  this product is not delivering the value expected.
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  And that's okay. Right? And, that's how you
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  innovate and iterate and learn. And as we
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  do that, then we'll end up with value
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  add at the end of the day and
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  not just a bunch of technology that's shiny,
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  but doesn't deliver the promised value.
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  Well, Karen, as we wrap up, do you
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  have any final thoughts you'd like to leave
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  with our listeners today?
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  I think this is the time to be
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  in health IT. This is what I've been
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  waiting for my whole career.
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  I had visions of this in grad school
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  20 years ago, and and it's so exciting.
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  I'm so thrilled to be here at this
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  time and supporting our clinicians and, through the
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  technology adventure. Just out of curiosity, can can
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  you define a little bit, like, what makes
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  right now so exciting in IT compared to
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  other times in your career?
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  I think we have the,
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  ability now through our infrastructures
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  and speed and large language models to actually
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  process all the complex patient data. And we
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  also have means to gather that data in
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  easy ways. So patients have wearables and and
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  things like that we we could only dream
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  about before.
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  And then our, mobility. Right? I I've created
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  a device for nurses,
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  15 years ago that was mobile,
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  but we could not, get it off the
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  ground. It does,
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  what Rover does for nurses today in Epic.
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  But having that real time data access, the
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  ability to process all that information and summarize
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  it in a meaningful way with AI, this
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  is the pinnacle for me. Well, I I'm
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  now I'm curious. Mhmm. So when you look
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  out there, is there one piece of technology
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  you see that maybe we're not doing now
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  that in 5, 10 years, you feel like
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  will be a real big game changer or,
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  like, you know, really kind of help improve
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  health care?
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  You know, what what what, like, technologies are
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  you most excited about right now? I am
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  most excited about ambient listening
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  with AI because I see it as removing
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  eliminating the need for a keyboard Mhmm. Eliminating
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  the need to manually enter data. And I
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  think that has been the enemy
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  for so long. I've as a nurse, I
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  spent so much time capturing notes, trying to
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  remember what did my patient do this morning?
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  What did they eat for lunch today? You
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  know, all these, you know, days that I
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  could just now can enter by voice throughout
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  my day, or even I anticipate cameras can
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  capture
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  important information as we move through the shift
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  with the patient. I think that's the game
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  changer to not have to worry about capturing
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  that information, that focus. What does this all
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  mean? What is it telling me about my
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  patient? And how do I get my patients
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  in the next level of care and health?
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  Well, Karen, this was absolutely fascinating. I really
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  appreciate your time today. Thank you so much,
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  and you have a lovely rest of your
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  day. Thank you very much. My pleasure.