Much in the same vein of our previous “You might be an #HITNerd If” series, the incomparable Dirk Stanley, MD, MPH, one of my favorite clinical informatics nerds, has published an amazing list of “Top 15 Signs You May Work in Clinical Informatics.” For those not familiar with Dirk, go and check out DirkMD – CMIO Perspective to learn from one of the best clinical informaticists out there.
Now, sharing with his permission, the Top 15 Signs You May Work in Clinical Informatics:
15. Your IT friends think you are ‘too clinical’, and your clinical friends think you are ‘too IT’.
14. You’ve successfully used the words “ontology”, “hierarchy”, “indexing”, or “usability” in a Scrabble game.
13. In your spare time, you write poetry about Interoperability and Meaningful Use.
12.You keep looking for ways to optimize the workflow for walking your dog.
11. You get panic attacks every time you hear the phrase, “new Federal regulations”.
10. When bringing your car for routine maintenance, you ask the mechanic about the “ROI” and “TCO” of your “future state”.
9. Your friends stage an intervention after you start inviting them to ‘flowcharting parties’.
8. At bedtime, your kids protest : “We’re tired of discussing project intake and change management, can we just go to sleep?”
7. Your best friend falls asleep on the phone, while you rant about the importance of maintaining a written home glossary for ‘good terminology management and data standards’.
6. Instead of asking your kids to do their chores, you ‘look for opportunities to better engage family stakeholders in household incentive-based productivity efforts.’
5. You actually enjoy debating whether your title should be “Clinical Informaticist” or “Clinical Informatician”
4. You’ve wondered how to increase global awareness about the complexity of order set design.
3. Your retirement planner asks you, “Are you SURE you want to do this?”
2. You nod and smile graciously every time someone asks you, “You work in IT, right? Isn’t that fun, just working with computers all day?”
1. You’ve spent countless holiday gatherings trying to explain ‘Clinical Informatics’ to your in-laws.
So many of these hit home so well. Although, I’m still waiting for Dirk to invite me to a Zoom ‘flowcharting party.’ Something to look forward to in the future. And there’s no debate. It’s Clinical Informaticist.
Have a great weekend everyone!
