The I Am An Immigrant - 1469 Words

Mr. Board Chair... Colleagues and Friends. I am an immigrant. Three years ago, I recounted my story as an immigrant to this great nation, of how I became a successful family physician, and of the great sacrifices by my family and especially my father in helping me to get here. Today, again I stand before you. I d like to tell you my story as a digital immigrant. Yes. I am a digital immigrant and like most of you, I was not born with a silver iPad in front of my face. I was able to apply the same immigrant ethics to work and with optimism and resiliency, I am able to successfully adapt to this brave new digital world. I remember it all started with an embarrassing story. More than 30 years ago, on the first day of typing class, Mr. Thayer†¦show more content†¦My journey in health IT began quite serendipitously more than a dozen years ago. I m sure many of you have this same shared experience. A mentor said to me one day, hey Jack, I think you ll be good at this, do you want to go to San Jose to help us with user testing for a new project with IBM? Ever since that faithful day, I had been involved in shaping how clinicians interface with information technology and I m proud to have played a part in the transformation of health care delivery for my organization. But early on in my involvement with these projects, I recognized the pitfalls of this digital transformation. It shifted work from clerks and nurses to physicians, transforming doctors to data entry clerks. Patient visits became so tedious that many felt like they were sentenced to torture with a death by a thousand clicks. Many of my colleagues struggled, especially those who didn t take Mr. Thayer s typing class. Many were disillusioned at the prospect of future patient care, feeling stuck behind a computer screen, appearing incompetent in front of our patients, all the time being punished for not keeping up with their charts and inbasket messages. It s through this experience that I recognized that in order to create a better system of care, we needed all hands on deck. we