Susan Snedaker, MBA, director of infrastructure and operations and information security officer at Tucson Medical Center in Arizona, will be given the HIMSS Book of the Year award at the organization’s yearly show running this week in Las Vegas.
The author of “Leading Healthcare IT: Managing to Succeed” spoke with HIMSS about challenges faced by healthcare IT professionals. Here are three highlights:
1. Companies must balance current problems with future innovation.
“I think the biggest constant in healthcare IT is balancing organizational demand with the need to drive innovation. Demand is constant and even the most seasoned health IT professional feels the pressure to deliver solutions to increasingly complex problems with the same or less staffing/funding,” she said.
2. Understand workflows with a hands-on approach.
“I encourage my staff to go out and watch work being done—often they come back to their desks with inspiration for innovative solutions to problems they’ve observed. When that happens, you have an engaged and empowered workforce, which is the real strength of any IT organization,” Snedaker said in her interview with HIMSS.
3. Leaders need to be emotionally intelligent and open communicators.
“This ability is closely tied to emotional intelligence. How well do you listen? How well do you empathize? How self-aware are you and how well do you regulate your emotions and behaviors?” she said.
An extended interview is available on the HIMSS 18 website.
Nicholas joined TriMed in 2016 as the managing editor of the Chicago office. After receiving his master’s from Roosevelt University, he worked in various writing/editing roles for magazines ranging in topic from billiards to metallurgy. Currently on Chicago’s north side, Nicholas keeps busy by running, reading and talking to his two cats.