Reimagining Clinical Computing

I guess you’d have to be living under a rock not to know that big things are happening at Microsoft. The official launch of Windows 8 is just around the corner. And today, just like everyone else, I am learning details about pricing for our Surface Tablets running Windows RT. The first of these new Surface units will also become available at the launch of Windows 8 on October 26th.

In the meantime, I’ve stepped away from the excitement (and the rainy weather) that is building in Redmond to visit some of our customers and partners in the sunny Caribbean. Yeah, I know what you are thinking. But honestly, management asked me to do this!
In addition to working with my colleagues at our corporate offices in Puerto Rico, I will be hosting a dinner this evening for hospital and clinical executives. Tomorrow, I will deliver a keynote address at the Puerto Rico Hospital Association’s 2012 annual convention at the Sheraton Hotel & Casino in Miramar, San Juan. The event historically gathers more than 500 healthcare professionals who work in hospitals and other facilities on the island.

While my Windows 8 colleagues are staying up late at night thinking about “Windows Reimagined”, one of the marketing slogans associated with our new operating system, I am thinking about the new opportunities this creates in my own industry—healthcare. How will this newest generation of Windows and all the cool devices from Microsoft and our partners help clinicians do their work? When Windows 8 launches you’ll be hearing the words “no compromises” quite a bit to explain the advantages of working on computers powered by Windows 8. For clinicians, I believe this truly describes the attributes they’ve been seeking, and yet have been somewhat lacking, on consumer mobile computing devices of the past. I for sure know that IT professionals will be pleased when clinicians start showing up at work with mobile devices that will help keep hospital networks safe and patient information more secure. That’s why I see a terrific opportunity for clinical computing to be “reimagined” too.

So with that said, I’ll get back to my Piña Colada by the side of the pool. Just kidding boss!

Bill Crounse