Time to Share…Insights on Innovation and Healthcare
After 10 books in the traditional paper paradigm - it's time for our team to start online sharing.
The Medical Alliances team will share ideas, approaches, observations, insights, and results in improving healthcare by energizing and enabling professionals to better direct their 'knowledge'. This blog will examine HOW…innovation… Communities of Performance…targeted and rapid knowledge transfer….collaboration (which my kids call 'sharing')…knowledge management….process improvement with LEAN, Six Sigma, good old ingenuity, electronic / emerging technology and other creative approaches can save lives, reduce inefficiency, and improve the quality of healthcare.
We will also share interesting news items we come across that stimulate our thinking on how to work smarter. Welcome to our online 'ShareShop!'
Recent news items:
- Page one of the Marketplace of the WSJ yesterday featured an article about using in Wikis in office and business settings. The article described how creative sales people used Web based social networking to find the right person to call to pitch, as well as citing an entire company who dropped their traditional Intranet and replaced it with a Wiki. Read: Offices Co-Opt Consumer Web Tools Like 'Wikis' and Social Networking By VAUHINI VARA of the Wall Street Journal
FULL ARTICLE TEXT (You do need a subscription to access the full article.)
- Our experience working with healthcare Communities of Practice and rapid knowledge transfer tells us that consumer based Web tools like Wikis, Blogs, and networking applications will become popular in business and healthcare settings. Why? They can deliver a more direct workflow that meets the needs of professionals who are busy
Here's an example: The mission is editing 20 healthcare quality and outcomes definitions to be standardized by a large multi-billion health system. Which system would you choose to use?
1. EMAIL the 20 definitions and ask each person to turn on track changes in Word and make changes and send it back.
2. ONLINE COLLABORATIVE PROJECT ROOM- log on to your corporate Intranet, click into a project room, upload your document, send email notice to 20 people and asked them to check out a document and make their changes in a single document. This can work, however, while email is faster for the 20 people getting the definitions to change, this system is much harder for the person synthesizing 20 different documents.
3. WIKI WAY - Post 20 definitions in a Wiki where each person edits real-time in a common document. Then send an email with the link to the Wiki based definitions and ask people to contribute real time on one document that represents the wisdom of the Community. Now when the person with the final sign off on the document views the Wiki they are seeing an unified almost final draft, and they can either revert any one person's changes or perform a real-time final edit. The Wiki Way takes fewer clicks and less time for all parties. That is why Wikipedia is becoming the largest store of human knowledge on the planet – as we all share, we all learn. The definite winner!
A good set of resources on Wikis can be found on the Government Services Administration (GSA) Web based Wiki Site - Below you'll find the link to a series of presentations of how Wiki and Blog use can be applied for eGov. First the link to an entire series of insightful programs sponsored by GSA:
COLAB: An Open Collaborative Work Environment to Support Networking Among Communities of Practice (38W1)
URL: http://colab.cim3.net/wiki/ (35NH)
URL via GSA: http://www.gsa.gov/collaborate
ExpeditionWorkshop/OpenCollaboration Networking Wiki Information Technology 2006/07/18 - Followup and Summary
It's clear that the Wiki way has an easier workflow to meets the needs of busy multi-tasking professionals. It has fewer clicks, it's streamlined and it saves time. More later. Doug
Here is a quick picture of Doug and the family at Disney land. If you want to contact me just email doug@medicalalliances.com or call me at 561-801-6656.