Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, recently convened a group of faculty members to hear the challenges and opportunities of information management at UNMC.
For 90 minutes, an in-person faculty group of educators, researchers and clinicians met Oct. 26 to discuss ways to improve local, academic unit, campus and systemwide UNMC information management organizational structures. A large group of “listeners,” including students, staff and leadership, participated at the same time via Zoom.
“I see the world as a combination of the ability to identify challenges and convert each to opportunities,” Dr. Gold said, noting he has heard employees address IT challenges in multiple areas across UNMC’s educational, research and clinical mission sets.
To address concerns, the listening session focused on each UNMC mission — education, research and clinical care — and the IT challenges and opportunities related to:
- Organization structures
- Policies and procedures
- Support and services
- Equipment and technology
In-person attendees raised a variety of issues, including how to share and store large data sets, allow access of open-sourced software, provide greater support of Mac products and balance flexibility with standardization and security assessments.
Dr. Gold then asked both groups to document and share IT challenges and opportunities with him over the next week. Once the information is collected, he said, work groups will be created to prioritize issues, identify resources and develop a timeline to resolve the current challenges and to embrace future opportunities for strengthening this critically important area.
Addressing challenges is important for the institution, Dr. Gold said, but noted the IT team works daily to ensure UNMC’s research, education and clinical missions are solid, well-performing and highly dedicated to excellence. “There is no malalignment of our common mission, but there clearly are multiple opportunities to continually improve.”
Next step would be to use the design thinking process.