It's a sector where there needs to be a push for software/hardware quality, period! One of my former coworkers from years ago used to write software for medical equipment. The software ran on the cheapest Windows boards the company could find. There was no standardization apart from window dressing. Attitude of management was to just get it out the door, and it would be fine.
YMMV of course.
It reminds me a comment from the Usenet, a long ago: "if your VCR is still blinking 12:00 then Linux is not for you".
Most people playing with technology don't know what they're doing. Giving them more power means giving them more danger.
I guess it wasn't a great plan if it's a week in and they're still dealing with it, but still...
The emergency mode operation plan is however listed as required, and this place was basically shut for a week.
I remembered it being more stringent that what it really is.
>Most hospitals use proprietary electronic medical record systems. These are layered constructs of different networks requiring different passwords and VPNs for their different functions.
That's idealistic. Usually they're giant pieces of shit.
Next summer we'll see how many explosions can be worked into a movie "based on a true story" about cybercrime.
http://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/police-pay-off-r...
this is the 3rd major healthcare org hit with this in like past 3 weeks. last one just got hit last week.
RIS/HIS/PACS/EHR/any systems all hit, with like 80-90% of network equipment compromised
Cedars-Sinai is indeed about twice the size, but that's mostly because Cedars-Sinai is extraordinarily large.
I've met a lot of "techie-trash" who even outwardly portray themselves as sociopathic, as if that made them seem smart and cool. Hell, I've been meeting people like that since the 90's! (They are a very slim minority of the tech populace, but their lack of self-awareness makes them tend to be very visible.)
I remember that med students were early adopters of ePocrates in the Palm PDA era. I think it's more that they are atrociously bad at technology, unless it's particularly useful to them.
inability to remember passwords slowed people down
It would slow people down a lot. Someone needs to sell some sort of zero effort authentication technology for hospitals. (One where a supervising nurse could quickly auth the chief of surgery, because that sort of guy is going to forget his token/device.)
Another standard may be needed for the larger businesses.
We're at the point where some company could sell a comprehensive software package for small practices that includes disaster recovery.
Most executives are either life long doctors, or worked their way up the corporate ladder. I don't understand why people who work hard to get to these positions are suddenly vilified as being somehow overpaid?
Take for example the CEO at Cedars-Sinai Health System in LA. They guy has held his CEO position for 17 years and worked his way up thought the ranks. He also went to school and got an undergrad and masters degree. He started in 1979 as an assistant admin and took the top job in 1994. So after 15 years of working his way up to CEO, he's should somehow not be paid in accordance with what other Health Care CEO's are getting paid?
If you want a villain, look at the system that's broken, or the government regulations, but seriously, get off the executives back for fucks sake. They aren't "gifted" CEO spots, they had to work hard to get there, and most have done amazing things for the industry.
Things that look simple on the surface are often not easy to implement in practice - especially when you're not starting with a green field.