technology is easy !

Last week, we had a two days symposium about electronic health information management(e-HIM), which was organized by SAHI and KFMC.The event was a nice opportunity to share experiences and get to know what other countries are doing in this field, and the recent achievements in this technology. I was glad to present the experience of our hospital with regards to ICD10-AM, the Australian coding system for diagnoses, which is an essential part of any health information system.And I finished my speech with these words of wisdom that I quoted from my brother graduation project long time ago: technology is easy, but people are hard.
HIS or HIM ?
In the symposium, emphasis was put on the importance of health information management as a holistic approach, rather than just health informatics which many people are fascinated about. The way we manage our health information processes, from medical records, to coding, to integration of data, to the use of software applications and ending by PHR, all are important to be managed and taken care of to ensure successful, errorless, confidential and reliable health information, and must be done by trained and experienced personnel. This point was mentioned also in the presentation of one keynote speaker, Dr.Mervat AbdulHak, the former president of AHIMA-United States, who also mentioned an interesting point that the head of the office of the national coordinator (ONC)of health technology in US, which is more like a national governing body for health technology, is a physician appointed by the former presidency.