...and the politicians in Washington want something to take home to the constituents. Some of these folks are looking for *anything* they can take positive credit for, especially given the controversies of multiple wars, inflated budgets, and Plamegate. Wouldn't you be more inclined to vote for a politican who "helps keep our children safe from the dangers of smut and pornography" or (insert other positive spin here)?
Surely they'd be able to try and get the engine to *move* during those 6 seconds and maybe gain altitude? What is stopping them from trying to get the engine out of a nosedive, especially at 1M pounds/unit?
...why shouldn't bacteria from Earth be able to grow on Titan? Microbes are amazingly hardy organisms, they can thrive as chemotrophs at the bottom of the ocean near volcanic vents or in other incredibly hot temperatures (one such microbe has an enzyme that lets biologists amplify DNA for legal and research purposes). If they can survive the extremes of air, ocean depth, and heat, why not those of cold and darkness?
And at this point I'm not entirely sure what I'll need, this message was a thought of general qualities I'd like to see from IT staff if I had my own practice right now. For the next 5-8 years I'll be using a hospital system of some kind. What I was trying to do here was mention *what I'd like in my own hypothetical practice*. There is an initiative for total electronic records, but I prefer to have hardcopies/ paper charts since anything can happen to a computer. However, most of the labs and studies are now relayed electronically and it is much easier to get consults or relay data electronically than by snail mail.
I'm still a student, so it'll be a few years (5-8) before I can hire anyone anyway. But it won't be as a surgeon, the residency for that is demanding even as residencies go. As for checkwriting ability, good point, not something I'd considered off the top of my head. Also, "at almost any other time" was meant to include major holidays and allow for ~350x18 access (Christmas and other major holidays would not see people in the office except in major emergencies in which cases the patient would probably be in the hospital and I'd be reviewing hard copies of records), perhaps that should have been stated more clearly.
And you're right that the cost of *immediate* repair on demand would be high, especially on weekend or holidays, and immediate is not what I'd be looking for. Assuming I went into private practice though, I'd probably try to hire one IT person for that practice's needs. If the practice isn't that large (otherwise more IT people get hired as needed), I'd figure that if the system were down and that got prioritized, that work could at least get *started* right away.
As a non-technical person with enough engineering friends to get to this site and have an iota of what might be reasonable to expect from IT professionals, here's my list of expectations:
-Security of data: obviously no data is *absolutely* secure if the computer is connected to the net, but enough security that I could feasibly work with medical records and HIPPA-privledged information without constantly worrying about crackers. For those of you who don't know what HIPPA is, imagine a very protective law about patient confidentiality that can result in serious jail time if it is violated.
-Continual access (within reason): If there are natural disasters, power outages, or personal emergencies, then certainly one can't reasonably expect 24-hr access. At almost any other time, however, I'd like to be able to turn a computer on at the workplace and not worry about downtime or have to call someone to fix the system (as my colleagues and I do now).
-Work ethic: Nothing pisses me off more than lazy people, especially those who try to use technobabble to hide incompetence. If there is work to be done, then I'd like to dial up the local expert/employee and know that the problem will be fixed *quickly* and efficiently. Certainly there will be problems that require more time than others and nothing runs smoothly all the time, but no one should have to brook crap from employees who pad schedules. If there are problems, say so and at least *try* to explain them, don't go into geekspeak/technical language in hopes that I don't understand and give up and let them go back to (insert game here).
-Keeping me informed of new tech without trying to be a salesman: Not every new upgrade is worth getting and keeping up with the Joneses can be prohibitively expensive. Sure, new tech is very cool and I'd like a wireless device to use around my office to tie labs/patient data together, but that doesn't mean it's worth constantly annoying the boss for tech upgrades
-Honesty: Don't overcharge me or bend/stretch/break the truth with me. Medical professionals *seem* to be a prime target for fleecing among computer folks and I've heard horror stories about people paying several times market rate for upgrade and basic tech services. If you work for me, please be honest about all systems or equipment. If I've made a poor decision and there's new data, say so. If there's a better program/hardware setup out there and I'm not familiar with it or am being blindsided by the saleswoman, make mention of it. I don't have the time or patience to micromanage, if your job is technical material than I rely on your expertise and expect to be able to trust you and your decisions.
That shouldn't be too much to ask and is what I will expect of any technical employees I'd hire once I graduate and get a practice up and running a few years from now.
The technologies are a decade old, but the lawmakers in power are from a generation when computers meant punch cards and files were something found only in cabinets. Should we really be so surprised then when the law can't catch up with the technology?
Given the soullessness of much of modern life and the life-sucking cubicles and jobs found throughout the current economy, along with the 60+ hours that many of fresh-out-of-college employees and others are working already, how far are we from being basically a nation of better-groomed zombies who don't bite each other?
This article is sickening. I understand that there is a need for watching large amounts of money that trade hands, but c'mon, we're now starting to scrutinize people who work to pay off their debts? If they're tracking us enough that they know on average how much we pay on credit cards per month, you'd think that the (insert government/corporate monicker here) would have an idea that people would like to get out of high-interest credit cards.
Personally I think this sounds like a poorly-shrouded excuse for this credit card company (among others?) to scrutinize their customer's finances and try to intimidate them into staying in debt for longer periods of time. Sickening IMHO.
...then government can be of help. Without a Cold War race and massive government expenditures, I doubt we'd have gone to the moon or made a third to a half the technological discoveries involving computers and space. Your point holds given that many of the technologies we use to get into space could use innovation and commercialization, but in areas where cost is the main barrier to technology development government can prove useful.
Just because a patient can understand your words doesn't mean that they know what you're asking about. Some people speak English and still manage to get something very different out of a conversation than what was said, and if the patient is simply answering questions to please the doctor then it doesn't matter what language it's in. Cultural competency is as important as language, maybe more, and we've all seen what happens when literal translations go awry (the Clairol "mist stick" comes to mind). And given that many of the patient contact notes are in fact legal documents, I'd rather use human translators that I know can get the job done.
1) Not all that long ago (1970s?) some people thought that we might be at a point where antibiotics would eradicate infections thus new antibiotic research slowed down accordingly. That slowed down new antibiotics coming to the market for a while, thankfully that is abating if not totally gone.
2) We're encountering new and deadly diseases as we increase trade globally, it is inevitable that some will be very dangerous and exotic.
3) Each new bug has to be researched and targeted, remember that the average drug patent is about 17 years (last I checked) and most of the projects don't become commercially viable.
4) I study/train in a public hospital. Knowledge is the best weapon you have and a cool head armed with knowledge of the disease (and the right protective/isolation equipment for provider and patient alike) goes a long way.
5) Panic of disease can kill far more people and disrupt trade in much greater amounts than the disease itself. How many people did SARS kill versus the trade and media disruption it caused?
Would it be fair then to compare open source computing programmers to non-tenured professors?
They both find a field they like, are working their backsides off trying to make a contribution, and trying to get their name out in the field. Both also struggle to get their projects working and many may not end up working in the field or place they'd most like to despite tremendous and often beneficial work that might be underappreciated by others. Finally, both also know that it is more often the slow and gargautan inertia of bureaucracy (and perhaps internal fighting among programmers and managers over credit for the projects?) that stall out and crap out more work than the people in the trenches actually planning, executing, and completing the tasks.
Heck, I'll take low res but free and easily accessible format than nothing and have to comb through the archives by hand. Maybe part of the reason we're experiencing a period of such rapid technological advancement is because we're cutting back on research time via computerization and greater accessibility to data, so I think anything that helps towards that end (starting with the national archives) is a good idea.
Diabetes checks would be radically simplified, imagine an age without blood sugar sticks. For sexually transmitted diseases, perhaps a computer could be created to tell you if you had one of the (n) most common ones the morning after. Patients with hypertension would always have blood pressure monitors, and those with heart disease would know what theier status was at the check of a computer.
If it's not used for tracking or behavior-monitoring purposes, I say it could be a very handy tool for patient and doc alike.
Personally I think the company that will make the most headway and profit in space is the one which devises a way to get us there for much less per kg. Even the lightest space station weighs in the tons and at $20k/kg it's quite difficult to make a profit. There was a German company a while back that had some great ideas (http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/otrag.htm) but we need to make serious inroads here before space will *really* become profitable.
I understand that this might sound a bit like sour grapes, but there's more to it than meets the eye.
1) Every doc works at least three years after med school for about $30k/yr for up to (and sometimes over) 80 hrs/week. It used to be more until the feds stepped in recently. Note that three years is a *minimum*, it can be triple that depending on the field (most primary care docs go for three-four years, many specialties add two-three years on top of that).
2) Lots of the "average" incomes are pushed up by docs who own their own clinics/companies, and granted there is some real cash to be made there. But many docs get out into the field earning $80-100k/yr but still working 60+ hrs/wk (although given that after 80 hrs/wk at $30k/yr it still seems like a godsend) and the aforementioned clinic owners tend to be well-established, seasoned docs or their kids.
3) Insurance at $50k is much lower than what most docs pay these days, in fact depending on the field it can go over $100k/yr easily. That alone has driven many people out of the field, and the threat of being sued is now such that once you get established or manage to save significnt quantities of cash many docs just stop practicing. Many a doc tried to cover this by putting it under a spouse's name, many a spouse walked away rich later in life. if the military picks up for malpractice insurance, it might be a better deal to go there than stay in the private sector depending on where you are and what you do.
4) I've got a seperate rant about how some people can get into med school taking some courses like those described. It would fill a few pages and deals with lots of inside-the-field specific complaints. But the jist would be that the rules don't always apply equally to everyone nor are the rules the same for everyone.
5) I have yet to understand why someone would knowingly pay $60-100k for training concerning a job that might never pay more than $40k/yr teaching.
The *good* news is it might make existing sysadmins more symapthetic to the needs of their users if they have to experience the same sort of interactions with them that some experience with their co-workers (some of my own experiences have been negative in the past and as such are biased).
The *bad* news is that more bureaucracy means more places for people to hide, more paperwork for everyone to got through, and another layer of clearance required for people to do their jobs.
The *ugly* news is that a single feudal overlord of a sysadmin with political qualifications instead of technical ones might turn a workplace from a productive well-oiled machine to a mess rather quickly.
Slashdot Mirror
...and the politicians in Washington want something to take home to the constituents. Some of these folks are looking for *anything* they can take positive credit for, especially given the controversies of multiple wars, inflated budgets, and Plamegate. Wouldn't you be more inclined to vote for a politican who "helps keep our children safe from the dangers of smut and pornography" or (insert other positive spin here)?
Surely they'd be able to try and get the engine to *move* during those 6 seconds and maybe gain altitude? What is stopping them from trying to get the engine out of a nosedive, especially at 1M pounds/unit?
...why shouldn't bacteria from Earth be able to grow on Titan? Microbes are amazingly hardy organisms, they can thrive as chemotrophs at the bottom of the ocean near volcanic vents or in other incredibly hot temperatures (one such microbe has an enzyme that lets biologists amplify DNA for legal and research purposes). If they can survive the extremes of air, ocean depth, and heat, why not those of cold and darkness?
Thanks. I'm writing this post-call, never good for spelling.
And at this point I'm not entirely sure what I'll need, this message was a thought of general qualities I'd like to see from IT staff if I had my own practice right now. For the next 5-8 years I'll be using a hospital system of some kind. What I was trying to do here was mention *what I'd like in my own hypothetical practice*. There is an initiative for total electronic records, but I prefer to have hardcopies/ paper charts since anything can happen to a computer. However, most of the labs and studies are now relayed electronically and it is much easier to get consults or relay data electronically than by snail mail.
I'm still a student, so it'll be a few years (5-8) before I can hire anyone anyway. But it won't be as a surgeon, the residency for that is demanding even as residencies go. As for checkwriting ability, good point, not something I'd considered off the top of my head. Also, "at almost any other time" was meant to include major holidays and allow for ~350x18 access (Christmas and other major holidays would not see people in the office except in major emergencies in which cases the patient would probably be in the hospital and I'd be reviewing hard copies of records), perhaps that should have been stated more clearly.
And you're right that the cost of *immediate* repair on demand would be high, especially on weekend or holidays, and immediate is not what I'd be looking for. Assuming I went into private practice though, I'd probably try to hire one IT person for that practice's needs. If the practice isn't that large (otherwise more IT people get hired as needed), I'd figure that if the system were down and that got prioritized, that work could at least get *started* right away.
Fair enough. Gotta love post-call...
As a non-technical person with enough engineering friends to get to this site and have an iota of what might be reasonable to expect from IT professionals, here's my list of expectations:
-Security of data: obviously no data is *absolutely* secure if the computer is connected to the net, but enough security that I could feasibly work with medical records and HIPPA-privledged information without constantly worrying about crackers. For those of you who don't know what HIPPA is, imagine a very protective law about patient confidentiality that can result in serious jail time if it is violated.
-Continual access (within reason): If there are natural disasters, power outages, or personal emergencies, then certainly one can't reasonably expect 24-hr access. At almost any other time, however, I'd like to be able to turn a computer on at the workplace and not worry about downtime or have to call someone to fix the system (as my colleagues and I do now).
-Work ethic: Nothing pisses me off more than lazy people, especially those who try to use technobabble to hide incompetence. If there is work to be done, then I'd like to dial up the local expert/employee and know that the problem will be fixed *quickly* and efficiently. Certainly there will be problems that require more time than others and nothing runs smoothly all the time, but no one should have to brook crap from employees who pad schedules. If there are problems, say so and at least *try* to explain them, don't go into geekspeak/technical language in hopes that I don't understand and give up and let them go back to (insert game here).
-Keeping me informed of new tech without trying to be a salesman: Not every new upgrade is worth getting and keeping up with the Joneses can be prohibitively expensive. Sure, new tech is very cool and I'd like a wireless device to use around my office to tie labs/patient data together, but that doesn't mean it's worth constantly annoying the boss for tech upgrades
-Honesty: Don't overcharge me or bend/stretch/break the truth with me. Medical professionals *seem* to be a prime target for fleecing among computer folks and I've heard horror stories about people paying several times market rate for upgrade and basic tech services. If you work for me, please be honest about all systems or equipment. If I've made a poor decision and there's new data, say so. If there's a better program/hardware setup out there and I'm not familiar with it or am being blindsided by the saleswoman, make mention of it. I don't have the time or patience to micromanage, if your job is technical material than I rely on your expertise and expect to be able to trust you and your decisions.
That shouldn't be too much to ask and is what I will expect of any technical employees I'd hire once I graduate and get a practice up and running a few years from now.
The technologies are a decade old, but the lawmakers in power are from a generation when computers meant punch cards and files were something found only in cabinets. Should we really be so surprised then when the law can't catch up with the technology?
Given the soullessness of much of modern life and the life-sucking cubicles and jobs found throughout the current economy, along with the 60+ hours that many of fresh-out-of-college employees and others are working already, how far are we from being basically a nation of better-groomed zombies who don't bite each other?
This article is sickening. I understand that there is a need for watching large amounts of money that trade hands, but c'mon, we're now starting to scrutinize people who work to pay off their debts? If they're tracking us enough that they know on average how much we pay on credit cards per month, you'd think that the (insert government/corporate monicker here) would have an idea that people would like to get out of high-interest credit cards.
Personally I think this sounds like a poorly-shrouded excuse for this credit card company (among others?) to scrutinize their customer's finances and try to intimidate them into staying in debt for longer periods of time. Sickening IMHO.
...then government can be of help. Without a Cold War race and massive government expenditures, I doubt we'd have gone to the moon or made a third to a half the technological discoveries involving computers and space. Your point holds given that many of the technologies we use to get into space could use innovation and commercialization, but in areas where cost is the main barrier to technology development government can prove useful.
Blackberry wireless phone: (at least) $199.99
Bad Press and market instability: $100 million+
Patent Infringement Settlement Case: $612 million
Sound of Silence from annoying company who may/may not have driven you out of business without settlement/payoff: Priceless
If *somehow* they can use a credit card on this one, I want to know if they how much cash back or frequent flyer miles they get...
Wrap the casket in copper, replace the headstone with a magnet, and expose corpse to this article. As Tesla turns in grave, free power.
Just because a patient can understand your words doesn't mean that they know what you're asking about. Some people speak English and still manage to get something very different out of a conversation than what was said, and if the patient is simply answering questions to please the doctor then it doesn't matter what language it's in. Cultural competency is as important as language, maybe more, and we've all seen what happens when literal translations go awry (the Clairol "mist stick" comes to mind). And given that many of the patient contact notes are in fact legal documents, I'd rather use human translators that I know can get the job done.
1) Not all that long ago (1970s?) some people thought that we might be at a point where antibiotics would eradicate infections thus new antibiotic research slowed down accordingly. That slowed down new antibiotics coming to the market for a while, thankfully that is abating if not totally gone.
2) We're encountering new and deadly diseases as we increase trade globally, it is inevitable that some will be very dangerous and exotic.
3) Each new bug has to be researched and targeted, remember that the average drug patent is about 17 years (last I checked) and most of the projects don't become commercially viable.
4) I study/train in a public hospital. Knowledge is the best weapon you have and a cool head armed with knowledge of the disease (and the right protective/isolation equipment for provider and patient alike) goes a long way.
5) Panic of disease can kill far more people and disrupt trade in much greater amounts than the disease itself. How many people did SARS kill versus the trade and media disruption it caused?
Would it be fair then to compare open source computing programmers to non-tenured professors?
They both find a field they like, are working their backsides off trying to make a contribution, and trying to get their name out in the field. Both also struggle to get their projects working and many may not end up working in the field or place they'd most like to despite tremendous and often beneficial work that might be underappreciated by others. Finally, both also know that it is more often the slow and gargautan inertia of bureaucracy (and perhaps internal fighting among programmers and managers over credit for the projects?) that stall out and crap out more work than the people in the trenches actually planning, executing, and completing the tasks.
Thoughts?
Then I say we throw you back.
Or that 18 year old you think you're looking at might be 80, especially in Florida or Europe...
Heck, I'll take low res but free and easily accessible format than nothing and have to comb through the archives by hand. Maybe part of the reason we're experiencing a period of such rapid technological advancement is because we're cutting back on research time via computerization and greater accessibility to data, so I think anything that helps towards that end (starting with the national archives) is a good idea.
Diabetes checks would be radically simplified, imagine an age without blood sugar sticks. For sexually transmitted diseases, perhaps a computer could be created to tell you if you had one of the (n) most common ones the morning after. Patients with hypertension would always have blood pressure monitors, and those with heart disease would know what theier status was at the check of a computer.
If it's not used for tracking or behavior-monitoring purposes, I say it could be a very handy tool for patient and doc alike.
Personally I think the company that will make the most headway and profit in space is the one which devises a way to get us there for much less per kg. Even the lightest space station weighs in the tons and at $20k/kg it's quite difficult to make a profit. There was a German company a while back that had some great ideas (http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/otrag.htm) but we need to make serious inroads here before space will *really* become profitable.
I understand that this might sound a bit like sour grapes, but there's more to it than meets the eye.
1) Every doc works at least three years after med school for about $30k/yr for up to (and sometimes over) 80 hrs/week. It used to be more until the feds stepped in recently. Note that three years is a *minimum*, it can be triple that depending on the field (most primary care docs go for three-four years, many specialties add two-three years on top of that).
2) Lots of the "average" incomes are pushed up by docs who own their own clinics/companies, and granted there is some real cash to be made there. But many docs get out into the field earning $80-100k/yr but still working 60+ hrs/wk (although given that after 80 hrs/wk at $30k/yr it still seems like a godsend) and the aforementioned clinic owners tend to be well-established, seasoned docs or their kids.
3) Insurance at $50k is much lower than what most docs pay these days, in fact depending on the field it can go over $100k/yr easily. That alone has driven many people out of the field, and the threat of being sued is now such that once you get established or manage to save significnt quantities of cash many docs just stop practicing. Many a doc tried to cover this by putting it under a spouse's name, many a spouse walked away rich later in life. if the military picks up for malpractice insurance, it might be a better deal to go there than stay in the private sector depending on where you are and what you do.
4) I've got a seperate rant about how some people can get into med school taking some courses like those described. It would fill a few pages and deals with lots of inside-the-field specific complaints. But the jist would be that the rules don't always apply equally to everyone nor are the rules the same for everyone.
5) I have yet to understand why someone would knowingly pay $60-100k for training concerning a job that might never pay more than $40k/yr teaching.
As I see it:
The *good* news is it might make existing sysadmins more symapthetic to the needs of their users if they have to experience the same sort of interactions with them that some experience with their co-workers (some of my own experiences have been negative in the past and as such are biased).
The *bad* news is that more bureaucracy means more places for people to hide, more paperwork for everyone to got through, and another layer of clearance required for people to do their jobs.
The *ugly* news is that a single feudal overlord of a sysadmin with political qualifications instead of technical ones might turn a workplace from a productive well-oiled machine to a mess rather quickly.