By Mike Miliard
Frontline clinicians appreciate the need for data-driven insights, but they're also overwhelmed with the competing mandates of quality improvement and cost-reduction, says Jeanne M. Huddleston, MD, associate professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic. Making analytics work for them – but most especially for patients – requires a broad-based approach.
"We need your great work, but we're tired and confused," said Huddleston, speaking Wednesday at the HIMSS Big Data and Healthcare Analytics Forum in San Francisco.
With a research focus on applying industrial and systems engineering principles to care delivery, Huddleston is acutely aware of the benefits data analytics can bring to the clinical setting, but she also knows how important it is to implement new strategies effectively. She launched the first Clinical Engineering Learning Laboratory within the Mayo Clinic's department of emergency medicine. She also pioneered, alongside clinicians and engineers, the implementation of predictive analytics and machine learning tools for bedside clinical decision support.