“We had done a lot to tangle ourselves up.” - Bridget Walsh, Chief Operating Officer at Emergency Nurses Association

In a discussion at AMS Fest this week, this is how Bridget Walsh characterized what their AMS of 17+ years looked like as they worked to move from their legacy system to a new one.

I love this quote for two reasons:

1. The use of the word "tangle." It's very descriptive of what many AMSes look like after years of use.
2. The ownership of the entanglement ("We had done a lot..."). Data management systems don't just tangle themselves. They become tangled for many reasons including neglect, staff turnover, outdated/ineffective business rules, and lack of documentation.

Seventeen years in one system is a very good run, so ENA should be proud of that. But I appreciated Bridget's acknowledgment of ENA's need to "untangle" where they were as they moved to a new system.

So what are you doing to make sure your AMS doesn't get too tangled up?