Q&A with CIO Robin Lang, Part 2: “Your Care Staff Expects Technology to Be Seamless.”

Once a nurse, always a nurse.

It’s funny; Robin Lang never would’ve envisioned herself as a CIO. As a nurse, her passion was caring for patients – both those in the hospital and those living in the community. But the more she became involved in technology, the more she started to believe in the impact she could have in an informatics leadership role. In fact, Lang found that not only could she touch more patients, but she was also able to improve care delivery and help reduce the burden faced by clinicians.

Recently, healthsystemCIO spoke with Lang about her 30-year journey from nurse to CIO, and the work her team is doing at CaroMont Health to move toward an integrated system while making IT as “seamless” as possible. She also talked about how they’re working to provide at-the-elbow support, the organization’s philosophy on growing from the bench, and the enormous privilege of being a female IT leader.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2



* Clinician support – “Being out there in the community makes a big difference.”

* Preventing workarounds

* From bedside nurse to CIO: “I never would have paved this road for myself.”

* Making technology “seamless”

* CaroMont’s career ladder opportunities

* Being “nudged & mentored” by the CMO & CIO

* Her “fierce passion” for patient care



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Bold Statements

Folks are just trying to get through the day. They’re here to see patients and deliver patient care and do it with kindness and compassion — they can’t get bogged down with technology.

Computers can do anything; they’re amazing and incredible, but things that makes sense in the computer world often don’t make any sense in the clinical world.

Your care staff expects technology to be seamless and in the background, and not in the way of providing patient care. The moment it’s intrusive, it becomes a barrier to understanding how the flow of the day works, capturing what must be captured, and meeting the regulatory needs.

I line up behind people who say ‘let’s try this,’ because I’ve found that’s what I gravitate toward. I believe in trying something new and different. I’m fiercely passionate about patient care and what we do for our community.

We had been really successful meeting our goals as an organization by sort of duct-taping systems together, but it was pretty clear we weren’t going to go where we needed to go in the future by doing what we had been doing.

Gamble:  I’m sure there’s something to be said for putting that time and really to get out in front of challenges.

Lang:  Yes, and they’re usually the team that hears long before anyone else what’s not working well, because folks are just trying to get through the day. They’re here to see patients and deliver care and do it with kindness and compassion — they can’t get bogged down with technology.

If something doesn’t work, we are masters in healthcare at working around things. So we never know if something doesn’t work until somebody catches it and says, ‘Why are you doing it that way? Let me help you.’ Or if something’s really broken and they don’t know that, they just accept it for what it is, figuring it’s just a quirk of the system. Being out there in the community of physicians and saying, ‘We’re here for you,’ and asking what’s working well and what’s not working well, really makes a big difference.

 

Gamble:  I would think your background as a nurse plays into this, and has really shaped your leadership style and philosophy.

Lang:  I think it absolutely has helped form who I am.