Assignment:  Answer all of the following questions using headers to separate topics.

1. From your personal experiences with healthcare workflows as a professional (if possible, else as a patient) and from the lessons you have been learning from this course, do you see the adoption of information technology as having been a smooth and graceful experience or a turbulent and sometimes painful one? Dig more deeply into your experiences and point to what you believe were the most critical contributors to the success or the causes of problems with the adoption. Be specific and support your position with references.

2. Based on your reflective analysis in question 1, which do you believe is a larger problem, lack of enough information or information overload? What evidence do you have to support your position?

3. Attack or defend the following assertion: "While it is true that a very small fraction of the population accounts for a significantly large fraction of total costs (e.g. "hot spots"), many of the root causes for these conditions have taken years if not decades to develop and to eliminate these hot spots will require significant life style changes, some with strong cultural reinforcements, long before the symptoms appear." Support your position with solid evidence.

4. You have been brought in to help a regional hospital implement a major informatics upgrade that promises to significantly improve efficiency and patient outcomes. Leadership is nervous due to concerns that many of the "older" professionals will resist these changes. What strategy would you employ to maximize the probability of success with this new adoption effort? Explain the underlying rationale and support your position with evidence.