45. clinicom part 2

8/2/2019 45. CliniCom Part 2

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H.I.S.-tory byVince Ciotti

2011 H.I.S. Professionals, LLC

Episode # 45:

CliniComPart 2


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An InsiderView As we saw last week, CliniCom was an amazingly early pioneer of

BMV (Bedside Medication Verification) several decades ago!

After that episode, I received a fascinating email from an early

CliniCom team member who gives the following insights into what

he remembers 20+ years later from the inside of such a

breakthrough start-up. Heres the words from Don Gilchrist, VP of

Engineering, himself (followed by my commentary in italics):

One liners from the beginning. People and events that supported

the survival of CliniCom:

- Shoes - Marshall Miller of 'THE MINNETONKA

MOCCASIN CO.' provided extensive early financing

and emergency funding to meet payroll and keep

the doors open. Without Marshals support,

ClinCom most likely would not have survived.

- (so thats where Peter Gombrich got his funding!)


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Other Key Players

Shirley Hughes - from TDS, Director of Marketing 86 -89 - got

marketing up and going. (TDS was Technicon Data Systems, a successor firm to

Lockheeds MIS, the CPOE pioneer from the 1970s.)

Terry Watson - Sales 86 - 92 - key to closing the early sales.

(Reminds me of a great quote from a McAuto HIS-tory hero, EdHamilton, VP of Sales & Marketing in the early 80s: Nothing

really happens until someone sells something!)

Marjorie Rodell - Everything you said and more. Instrumental in

moving software development from start-up to commercialoperation. (Much more about and from Marjorie later)

Peter Gombrich - the creative soul and brains who, like in many

start-ups, was ousted before reaping the payoff.(So sadly familiar

in HIS-tory, the early founders rarely stay with a firm for long)


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Other Inside TidBits from Don

Bill Brehm - Professional Manager who turned CliniCom around.

(Damn, just cant shake this guy! First he pops up atSMS, thenMcAuto, then HIS Inc. in Brooklyn. Then he starred atGerber-

Brehm writing IFAS; now here he is atCliniCom too!!)

SMS - Arrogant, not-invented-here company who blew the

chance to partner with and someday purchase CliniCom. (The NIH {Not Invented Here} syndrome plagues many large HIS

vendor development teams: we can build a better one SMS

finally started buying rather than building with Computer

Synergy and MedSeries 4 amazing they passed up CliniCom!) Emergency move of Sequent sever to St. Francis Topeka, a beta

site, from Boulder in back of pickup to address performance

problems and allow them to continue using the system.

(Its the small start-ups who truly Partner with their clients!)


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And More M&M's used for testing of Unit Dose

Packaging. (remember med unit doses did not

come with bar-code labels back then

CliniCom printed and glued them on)

In house manufacturing including wave

soldering of printed circuit boards.

Getting the radios and firmware in hand-

held 'Dust Busters' to work reliably.

- (Actually, I always thought it looked

more like an iron than a dust-buster)

Living in Hospitals and working with Nursing & Pharmacy 24X7.- (How many of todays mega-vendors have implementation

personnel who work in the trenches all 3 shifts and weekends?)


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Final Thoughts From Don Addition of wall mounted touch screen in every

room years before anyone else offered similarsolution.

(Hats off! PCs were just becoming popular {I

bought my first in 1987!) and CliniCom not only

invented wireless BMV, but they pioneered the

wall-mounted devices so common today!)

Delivery of 5 rights of drug administration before

anyone else offered similar solution.

(Remember, the IOM report didnt come out until 15 years later!)

Capture of I&O, Vital Signs at the bedside.

- (To be fair, NCRs PNUT neat them to this by a few years)

Being involved in a product that really made a difference in the

quality of patient care.


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An Amazing Ride! Well wrap-up the CliniCom story next week thanks to input from

Marjorie Rodell, a HIS-tory heroine from their early days, like this

image below from her archives that sums up their first 5 years:

45. clinicom part 2

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