We Have Seen the End User, and It Is Everyone
Whenever I hear the term “end user,” I can’t help but picture syringes on a sidewalk. I remember a past job where corporate IT would send out server updates and such to the satellite offices addressing recipients even more starkly: “Dear Users …”
In healthcare organizations, the “end users” are pretty much anyone and everyone who interacts with patient-care devices, computers or both. Of course, there’s now a lot of overlap among all the various end-user groups.
Off-key word associations aside, the term is a convenience, and a good one at that. It neatly cuts out the intermediaries and middlemen who deliver and service the products, and it homes in on the doctors, nurses, administrators and support staff who rely on them.
Read between the lines of this issue’s Tech Management section and you’ll see this focus everywhere.
You’ll meet people who take a scientific approach to assessing and acquiring medical equipment, so end users have the most appropriate and cost-effective tools they need to provide safe and successful patient care.
You’ll get the latest thinking on how to subdue that infernal plague on end users working in inpatient areas—the aural assault of alarm overload.
And you’ll hear from an FDA official who predicts that the agency’s unique device identification initiative will put greater decision-making power in the hands of patients. Not just any patients, but patients who are end users of medical devices. Let’s just agree right now that we’ll never address them as “Dear Users …”
In healthcare organizations, the “end users” are pretty much anyone and everyone who interacts with patient-care devices, computers or both. Of course, there’s now a lot of overlap among all the various end-user groups.
Off-key word associations aside, the term is a convenience, and a good one at that. It neatly cuts out the intermediaries and middlemen who deliver and service the products, and it homes in on the doctors, nurses, administrators and support staff who rely on them.
Read between the lines of this issue’s Tech Management section and you’ll see this focus everywhere.
You’ll meet people who take a scientific approach to assessing and acquiring medical equipment, so end users have the most appropriate and cost-effective tools they need to provide safe and successful patient care.
You’ll get the latest thinking on how to subdue that infernal plague on end users working in inpatient areas—the aural assault of alarm overload.
And you’ll hear from an FDA official who predicts that the agency’s unique device identification initiative will put greater decision-making power in the hands of patients. Not just any patients, but patients who are end users of medical devices. Let’s just agree right now that we’ll never address them as “Dear Users …”
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.