When the System Fails: Lessons from the Past for a More Prepared Future
There’s a certain kind of quiet that settles over a hospital when the computers go dark. It’s not the peaceful kind—it’s the kind that hums with uncertainty, that makes people glance at each other with questions in their eyes. In those moments, time slows down just enough to remind us that technology, as brilliant as it is, isn’t invincible.
Before electronic health records (EHRs), before we could pull up a patient’s history with a click, there were paper charts, file rooms, and handwritten notes that doctors and nurses had to sift through at record speed. Was it perfect? No. But it worked, because it had to. People knew how to function without a screen in front of them. They knew that processes had to be clear, repeatable, and ready for the unpredictable.
That’s the part we can’t forget.
Lessons From the Past That Still Matter Today
Back in the day, when computers weren’t running the show, downtime preparedness wasn’t a separate checklist—it was just how things were done. Records were kept in multiple places. People were trained to document in a way that someone else could pick up and run with if needed. Communication wasn’t something we relied on a screen for—it happened in real time, face to face, phone to phone, chart to chart.
The beauty of that system wasn’t in its speed or efficiency, but in its resilience. It made sure no single failure could bring everything to a stop.
Today, with EHRs at the center of patient care, we’ve gained so much—but we’ve also lost some of that instinct for preparedness. Systems are faster, but when they fail, they fail hard. Processes are more streamlined, but when the path gets blocked, people can feel stuck, unsure of the next step.
A Smarter Approach to Downtime Preparedness
Technology should make us better, not more fragile. If we’re leaning so hard on digital workflows that we forget how to function without them, we’re setting ourselves up for failure. The solution isn’t to resist technology—it’s to build a system that works even when the technology doesn’t.
That means:
- Training people like the system will go down because it’s a real possibility.
- Keeping backup processes fresh—not as dusty manuals nobody reads.
- Making sure that when digital records disappear, care teams don’t lose the ability to do their jobs.
Downtime preparedness isn’t about planning for failure. It’s about planning for continuity. It’s about making sure healthcare moves forward, no matter what gets in its way.
Perfecting the Present: Where Technology and Human Preparedness Meet
The future isn’t just about better software or faster recovery times. It’s about creating a culture where technology and human readiness work together. It’s about making sure that when a system goes down, nobody panics—they just switch gears.
Because at the end of the day, technology doesn’t take care of people. People take care of people.
And when the system fails, it’s not the technology that keeps healthcare running. It’s us.
At the recent AHIMA Advocacy Summit, we talked a lot about the role of health information professionals in securing the future of healthcare. From data integrity to AI regulation to ensuring seamless patient care even in the face of system failures, one thing was clear—we’re not just keeping up with change, we’re leading it. The conversations at the Summit weren’t just policy discussions. They were real-world action steps to ensure that, no matter what happens—a cyberattack, a system outage, a shift in regulations—we’re ready.
That’s exactly what we dig into on the HI-Powered podcast—where I sit down with experts, frontline professionals, and changemakers to talk about the work we do, why it matters, and how we can stay ahead of what’s next. If this conversation around downtime preparedness got you thinking, we’re tackling topics just like this on the latest episodes—so be sure to tune in.
Because in the end, this isn’t about preparing for a system failure. It’s about building a future where nothing—no glitch, no outage, no missing data—stops us from delivering the best possible care.
Let’s make sure we’re ready.
Dr. Jasmine T. Agnew, DHPE, MHIIM, RHIA, CPHIMS, CSBI, eFACHDM, is the Senior Vice President, Academic Affairs and Professional Credentials for AHIMA.