A Harmonious Musical Spring Break

I expect to conclude my three-part certification retrospective within the week. Since it will end with a discussion of lessons learned as well as some tough controversies, it will need some thoughtful review before I just fire it off. In the meantime, I’m going to take a brief break to return to my non-HIT passion, music, which has many parallels with Health IT as I introduced in my first blog post in December.  One of my physician colleagues recently shared with me an article from the March 15^th edition of the Annals of Internal Medicine, entitled What Musicians Can Teach Doctors. No, I’m not going to use this post to teach doctors, but I recommend the article, as it compares musical training and performance to medical training and practice. Furthermore the aspects of teamwork, rehearsal, and specialization are key to HIT interoperability. Both music and interoperability must be performed by collaborating participants, not just specified in theory, and there’s no substitute for doing it over and over, refining it, and continuously improving.

I’ve been applying the principle of “practice” (musical, not medical) for the past year preparing for an upcoming solo piano recital. For too long, I didn’t make time for it, as the demands of family, work, and “life” kept getting in the way, but now on May 20^th and 21^st I’ll perform two concerts. Information is available on the web about the recital program, Youtube video preview “trailer” and location at Immaculata University. So if any blog readers happen to be in the Philadelphia PA area on those dates and would like to come by, you’re most welcome! I realize that solo piano doesn’t illustrate very well the “teamwork” principle that ensemble music would. But I’d like to convey a faithful and yet personal interpretation of the composers’ musical “specifications” to connect with my audience so that they realize the genius and beauty of what Bach, Beethoven, Liszt, et al created. So even though it’s a solo recital, I’m trying to be the “interface” between the composers and my audience. Hopefully, not too much will be lost in translation!

Anyway, after this “break,” next time I’ll return to conclude the CCHIT Certification Retrospective.