The social contribution of an IT architect

Date: 2024-04-18 09:16

What am I actually doing?

For me, the best start to the weekend is a tough swimming training at the triathlon club. A cup of coffee after training with a hearty biscuit works wonders after such a training. Of course, the club feeling also includes getting to know each other better. "Hi Hans, how are you? Can you explain to me what exactly an IT architect does?" I speak to Marieke often. You can answer this question with "An IT architect makes the overall design for an IT landscape, he draws a lot of pictures and holds a lot of meetings." But I knew that with Marieke, part of a management team at a large hospital, I would not get away with this. I realized that I was not well prepared for this question. "An IT architect has knowledge of the available technologies in IT. With this he helps shape the strategy and ensures that it is implemented," I replied. Still an evasive answer, I think, but it did give me the opportunity to ask a counter question. "How do you deal with the shortage of personnel in healthcare, and do you expect that problem to increase in the future?" "Yes", there is indeed a shortage of doctors and nurses, and this will only increase due to the aging population. But we are already taking measures." For example, she told me that for patients dealing with dementia, a mat is placed next to the bed. When the patient stands on it, a signal goes off so that the nurse can respond. "Ah, I said, a nice application of the Internet of Things." She also told me about another problem that they have solved regarding the labor-intensive process of aftercare. Previously, the protocol was that a patient visits every six months for a half-hour consultation with the doctor. The doctor can then decide to take measures or not. Now the patient receives a tablet (not a pill, but the device). The patient answers a few questions every week and sends them in. The nurse reads the answers and decides whether or not to call in the doctor. "Is it really necessary for the nurse to read and assess that," I asked. "Yes, of course," she answered. I tried to explain to her that with the implementation of rules it should be possible to automatically make the decision to approach the doctor or not. And if there were collaboration with other healthcare institutions, a lot of data would become available. With the application of big data and artificial intelligence, knowledge that you do not yet have can emerge. "Yes, that would be very nice! Can you explain this to me later, I'm going to running training now."

Know the technologies

Various technologies can be used to shape a digital transformation. These can give companies a competitive advantage. They can also contribute to solving social problems. Do you also want to contribute?

Source: Digital Transformation Course, Arcitura.

also interesting: health data space