Be careful about getting tangled
“We had done a lot to tangle ourselves up.” - Bridget Walsh, Chief Operating Officer at Emergency Nurses Association
In a discussion at AMS Fest this week, this is how Bridget Walsh characterized what their AMS of 17+ years looked like as they worked to move from their legacy system to a new one.
I love this quote for two reasons:
- The use of the word "tangle." It's very descriptive of what many AMSes look like after years of use.
- The ownership of the entanglement ("We had done a lot..."). Data management systems don't just tangle themselves. They become tangled for many reasons including neglect, staff turnover, outdated/ineffective business rules, and lack of documentation.
Seventeen years in one system is a very good run, so ENA should be proud of that. But I appreciated Bridget's acknowledgment of ENA's need to "untangle" where they were as they moved to a new system.
So what are you doing to make sure your AMS doesn't get too tangled up?
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