In my Biomedical Informatics Journal Club on Thursday, we had a very interesting conversation regarding an article about the Chinese using XML to help build a medical records system. Our instructor said the article didn't seem to reveal much that wasn't already known. This lead to a discussion regarding the conservative nature of many academic and research environments.
Now, I have spent years in both university and entrepreneurial/corporate settings. In many ways, academics and research are very different from commercial environments. Businesses focuses on money, products and services, customers and, if large enough, shareholders. Academics and research center on solving problems, knowledge, sometimes only for knowledge's sake, and transferrence of ideas.
In either workspace, liberal or conservative views may prevail. Innovation is not necessarily pursued. Many people are content to do things the same way, over and over again, without improvements in efficiency, productivity, technology, etc.
To address significant advancements in technology and information science, an entire discipline has evolved to apply these progressive areas to medicine. One of the challenges of medical informatics is to take intellectual and technological ideas and create practical applications that contribute to the advancement of medicine.
I believe in continuous improvement, whenever and however possible: Personal improvement and professional improvement. I also believe in successful execution of ideas. True improvement requires both visionaries, with the freedom to think in broadstrokes, and operations experts who are supported in their efforts to bring ideas to completion.
I was raised in a very creative home with an artist father and a writer mother. Vision came easy but I have had to work very hard to become a person capable of follow-through and accomplishment. I have gained a very serious appreciation for the team effort required to complete any projects of significance.
I am really enjoying the synergy between my job, my classwork, and my personal growth occuring at this point in time. What fun!
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