{"id":17695,"date":"2025-01-31T10:44:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T09:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.key-stream.com\/?p=17695"},"modified":"2025-01-31T10:47:50","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T09:47:50","slug":"january-reflections-resolutions-data-and-the-art-of-structuring-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.key-stream.com\/news\/january-reflections-resolutions-data-and-the-art-of-structuring-chaos\/","title":{"rendered":"January Reflections: Resolutions, Data, and the Art of Structuring Chaos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every January, I start the year with a plan. A structured, well-thought-out roadmap for the year ahead. It begins with data collection\u2014pulling information from different sources, categorising it, scaling options, and arranging them neatly into a structured list. I analyse, prioritise, refine.<\/p>\n

And then? Well, just like most well-intentioned plans, it all gets reshuffled, adjusted, or sometimes completely ignored once real-life priorities kick in.<\/p>\n

But this process\u2014collecting, structuring, and manipulating data\u2014reminds me of what happens every time a hospital implements a new Electronic Patient Record (EPR)<\/strong> system.\n<\/ul>\n

<\/h3>\n

A New EPR: The Promise of Structure and the Reality of Data Migration<\/h3>\n

When an EPR goes live, it\u2019s not just a new system\u2014it\u2019s a new database, a new way of managing patient records, workflows, and processes. But behind the scenes, there\u2019s a massive data migration effort<\/strong>, and that\u2019s where things get complicated.<\/p>\n

Hospitals need to translate<\/strong> their existing data into the new system. What stays? What goes? What\u2019s critical? What\u2019s obsolete?<\/p>\n

This stage is filled with difficult questions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Standardisation<\/strong> \u2013 Does the new system define data in the same way as the old one?<\/li>\n
  • Essential vs. Non-Essential Data<\/strong> \u2013 What information is business-critical, and what can be archived?<\/li>\n
  • Legacy Data Complexity<\/strong> \u2013 How do you handle historical data that doesn\u2019t fit the new system\u2019s structure?<\/li>\n
  • Data Cleansing<\/strong> \u2013 What errors, duplicates, or inconsistencies need to be resolved before the transition?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    At this point, teams meticulously map out everything, ensuring that patient records, operational workflows, and clinical data points are aligned. It\u2019s a structured, carefully planned process, just like my January lists.<\/p>\n

    <\/h3>\n

    Post-GoLive: Data Manipulation in the Wild<\/h3>\n

    But here\u2019s where things get interesting.<\/p>\n

    Once an EPR is live, data manipulation doesn\u2019t stop<\/strong>\u2014in fact, it increases. The way data is used, interpreted, and shared evolves over time. Despite the structured approach taken during migration, once in real-world use, people start adjusting, modifying, and reshaping the system to fit their needs.<\/p>\n

    Some key post-GoLive questions emerge:<\/p>\n

      \n
    • How is data actually being used?<\/strong> The reports that seemed essential during planning may not be the ones clinicians rely on daily.<\/li>\n
    • What gets shared?<\/strong> Is the right information being made available to the right people, or are manual workarounds creeping in?<\/li>\n
    • How do users reshape the system?<\/strong> Despite the structured setup, teams inevitably create custom fields, workarounds, or alternative ways to manage their workflows.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      <\/h3>\n

      From Data Structure to Data Fluidity<\/h3>\n

      A new EPR starts with a structured plan\u2014much like my January resolutions. But once it\u2019s live, it becomes fluid<\/strong>, evolving with real-world use. The challenge isn\u2019t just migrating<\/strong> data; it\u2019s understanding how that data will be used, changed, and reshaped <\/strong>over time.<\/p>\n

      So, here\u2019s my resolution for next year: not to start from scratch<\/strong>. Instead of building a new plan, I\u2019ll refine the one I already have, based on how I actually use it.<\/p>\n

      Maybe hospitals should do the same with their data. Instead of treating GoLive as the finish line, perhaps the real question is: how do we continuously refine and improve data use after implementation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

      What\u2019s your experience with data after GoLive? How much of it is structured, and how much gets reshaped in practice? Let\u2019s start that conversation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Every January, I start the year with a plan. A structured, well-thought-out roadmap for the year ahead. It begins with data collection\u2014pulling information from different sources, categorising it, scaling options, and arranging them neatly into a structured list. I analyse, prioritise, refine. And then? Well, just like most well-intentioned plans, it all gets reshuffled, adjusted,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":17699,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","footnotes":""},"categories":[74,64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-consulting","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.key-stream.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.key-stream.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.key-stream.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.key-stream.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.key-stream.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17695"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.key-stream.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17695\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17707,"href":"https:\/\/www.key-stream.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17695\/revisions\/17707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.key-stream.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/17699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.key-stream.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.key-stream.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.key-stream.com\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}