Last night I was in the ER with my folks. My father, 86 years young, was having some shortness of breath. Since he had two angioplasties, he is extra cautious these days when something "doesn't feel quite right," as he puts it. There have been enough times when he was right so no need to take chances now.
While waiting for the test results, we ran out of chit chat about the Patriots (ugh), tennis, my children/their grandchildren (their favorite topic). We were into hour two, and I was bored. I happened to notice a computer in the room. Just for kicks, I clicked on the MSFT Explorer browser. The machine was completely open and I logged onto my Facebook page to show them what that was all about. Bad Davida. But am I the only bad one here?
The nurse came in and told me I should get off the machine. It was hospital property. She was right on that. She also said that there was sensitive information in the system. She was also right on that. I apologized, logged off and took my hand slap. I decided not to bother a busy ER nurse, who was treating my father, with a lecture on HIPAA security and how the hospital should add a layer of password protection for the machines in any of the rooms. I did see that the MedHost application was on the machine.It is great that the hospitals have computers. But have you ever seen a doctor or nurse use one of those machines in an ER room?
I have had my fair share of ER visits between kids and my parents, and not once have I seen a medical professional use a machine in the room vs. near a nurses' station or a private office.Information technology is all well and good, and it will probably be the key to moving healthcare into the black, but healthcare organizations must use IT wisely. And if IT will take an even greater role in healthcare, regulations, such as HIPAA, must be better enforced. Are hospitals ready for IT?
Monday, December 29, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
The Pursuit of Happiness
Earlier this month, I read and heard about a study about happiness. For me, if it has to do with happiness… humor… anything of that ilk, I want to know about it.
The article quoted Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a coauthor of the study and a professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School, as saying, "Your happiness is not just about your own choices and actions and behaviors and thoughts. "It's like there are emotional stampedes that ripple across this infinite fabric of humanity."
I would like to turn your attention to one part: Some findings seem made for a sitcom about family life. While a cheerful next-door neighbor increases one's likelihood of happiness by 34 percent, a happy spouse who lives in the same house contributes just 8 percent. The authors said happiness seemed to spread more through same-sex relationships, and suggested that might help explain the neighbor effect.
That 8% is troubling. Do spouses and family members feel they don’t have to be cheerful with one another? Are we of the mind that the people we live with must love us? Richer or poorer. In sickness and health. Happy or grumpy?
Maybe so, but it wouldn’t hurt to put on a happy face at home and be the one to cheer your spouse, son, daughter, mother, father or whomever you live with. That person shouldn’t feel he or she must go next door or down the street for kindness and support all of the time. Granted, we all need to vent. We aren’t always in the best mood. When one person is down in the dumps, another could help pick up the pieces. And we all reveal things to a good friend about a spat or problem at home to try and get an objective opinion about a solution. But I don’t think that should be the main source of one’s happiness.
My point? This might fall into the category of why we should eat at least one meal as a family to talk, share the day’s highs and lows, and try to understand what’s happening in one another’s lives. Good communication is the key to any relationship. Have you asked your spouse or children lately, ‘How are you?’ or ‘What did you do today?’ and really meant it? If not, try it. See what happens.
The article quoted Dr. Nicholas Christakis, a coauthor of the study and a professor of medical sociology at Harvard Medical School, as saying, "Your happiness is not just about your own choices and actions and behaviors and thoughts. "It's like there are emotional stampedes that ripple across this infinite fabric of humanity."
I would like to turn your attention to one part: Some findings seem made for a sitcom about family life. While a cheerful next-door neighbor increases one's likelihood of happiness by 34 percent, a happy spouse who lives in the same house contributes just 8 percent. The authors said happiness seemed to spread more through same-sex relationships, and suggested that might help explain the neighbor effect.
That 8% is troubling. Do spouses and family members feel they don’t have to be cheerful with one another? Are we of the mind that the people we live with must love us? Richer or poorer. In sickness and health. Happy or grumpy?
Maybe so, but it wouldn’t hurt to put on a happy face at home and be the one to cheer your spouse, son, daughter, mother, father or whomever you live with. That person shouldn’t feel he or she must go next door or down the street for kindness and support all of the time. Granted, we all need to vent. We aren’t always in the best mood. When one person is down in the dumps, another could help pick up the pieces. And we all reveal things to a good friend about a spat or problem at home to try and get an objective opinion about a solution. But I don’t think that should be the main source of one’s happiness.
My point? This might fall into the category of why we should eat at least one meal as a family to talk, share the day’s highs and lows, and try to understand what’s happening in one another’s lives. Good communication is the key to any relationship. Have you asked your spouse or children lately, ‘How are you?’ or ‘What did you do today?’ and really meant it? If not, try it. See what happens.
Friday, December 5, 2008
It’s never too late
Have you ever dug so deeply into a situation, that you feel you could not find the entrance or exit? For reasons which I will not get into here, I hadn’t seen much of my father’s side of the family since my son’s bris in 2001. I kept in touch with a few cousins, and after a while, it became more and more difficult to find the right words, the right time, the right anything to connect again with others.
To be fair to myself, I didn’t want to at first. I was angry. I was torn. But would I be disloyal to him if I were to even speak to these people? Then, I realized, “What the heck am I doing?” Whatever beef my father has with his family is his issue, not mine. One of my cousins, Leanne, is good at putting that kind of situation into perspective. She has this innate ability to see into people’s minds and say just the right thing.
I shattered the silence last Christmas, when I invited one cousin, Lori, and her husband and three beautiful daughters, for the traditional Chinese food meal. I did see a few other cousins over the year, but there were still a few I still needed to catch up with.
This past Rosh Hashana, I went to Leanne’s house and saw a few more relatives on the “wanted” list, and it was as if a load was lifted from my shoulders. People were happy to see me and my family, and it seemed that we picked up where we left off. It’s not easy to fill a seven-year void, but we did our best.
Then, the other day, we got an invitation to celebrate an early Chanukah at Lori’s house with family from our side (my father’s sister) and her father’s side, as well as some of her husband’s. We had plans that evening but made it a point to go there even for an hour. I walked toward the house with some anxiety, but that quickly passed. We had a great time catching up. My husband and children met cousins they didn’t know existed. I did too. I left so relieved. Tomorrow, I will invite relatives for that traditional Christmas dinner of Chinese food.
My point? We all have regrets. We have all said, “If I could turn back time…” Although we cannot recreate lost years, we can try to begin anew. You can sit and think about it, or you can do something about it. It’s not easy. It won’t happen overnight. You might even swallow some pride. It’s your life. You can choose to live it.. or just think about it.
To be fair to myself, I didn’t want to at first. I was angry. I was torn. But would I be disloyal to him if I were to even speak to these people? Then, I realized, “What the heck am I doing?” Whatever beef my father has with his family is his issue, not mine. One of my cousins, Leanne, is good at putting that kind of situation into perspective. She has this innate ability to see into people’s minds and say just the right thing.
I shattered the silence last Christmas, when I invited one cousin, Lori, and her husband and three beautiful daughters, for the traditional Chinese food meal. I did see a few other cousins over the year, but there were still a few I still needed to catch up with.
This past Rosh Hashana, I went to Leanne’s house and saw a few more relatives on the “wanted” list, and it was as if a load was lifted from my shoulders. People were happy to see me and my family, and it seemed that we picked up where we left off. It’s not easy to fill a seven-year void, but we did our best.
Then, the other day, we got an invitation to celebrate an early Chanukah at Lori’s house with family from our side (my father’s sister) and her father’s side, as well as some of her husband’s. We had plans that evening but made it a point to go there even for an hour. I walked toward the house with some anxiety, but that quickly passed. We had a great time catching up. My husband and children met cousins they didn’t know existed. I did too. I left so relieved. Tomorrow, I will invite relatives for that traditional Christmas dinner of Chinese food.
My point? We all have regrets. We have all said, “If I could turn back time…” Although we cannot recreate lost years, we can try to begin anew. You can sit and think about it, or you can do something about it. It’s not easy. It won’t happen overnight. You might even swallow some pride. It’s your life. You can choose to live it.. or just think about it.
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