The Path to Interoperability: Modern Healthcare Report Includes Plug for Clinical Engineering’s Key Role

In February 2012, Modern Healthcarepublished a monograph called “The Path to Interoperability: Turning Awareness into Action.” It’s a guide designed to help hospital executives gain the perspectives required to prepare for connecting their hospitals’ information systems and devices to other information systems and devices—inside and outside the walls of their organizations. ECRI Institute helped Modern Healthcareput together this monograph.

A box article in the monograph titled “Interoperability and Medical Devices” states that “healthcare organizations will need to make sure that they have health technology experts who can help sort through their growing connectivity challenges and avoid costly mistakes.” The box also quotes James P. Keller, Jr., ECRI Institute’s vice president for health technology evaluation and safety, who says that “clinical engineers are well suited for this role because of their multidisciplinary training in engineering, health systems, and medical technology.” An inset in the box adds that “a...