Pros
The connection to the business–-the reason we do all this IT stuff, which is to improve the health of our patients and the state of healthcare in the region--couldn't be more attractive. Senior leadership is going a great job in communicating how our work contributes to, or more accurately, is essential to, the achievement of Duke Health's strategy. Process improvements, such as adoption of the ITIL model to manage the IT business, have also fostered greater accountability, which means that good work is recognized and shoddy work is avoided. People ARE promoted from within. The benefits package at Duke (including an unparalleled rate of contributions to the 403(b) plan on the part of the business) is great. Finally, communications here are excellent, with the senior team talking to us about strategy and strategic initiatives every month, and with access to other stuff you need to know very easy.
Cons
It continues to be a struggle to convince the business to spend more money on IT. Duke Health leadership wants to grow the business quickly (through acquisition, among other methods), but isn't always ready to add the IT staff necessary to support that growth. The electronic health record has been a major asset to the business, but the volume of requests for enhancements and tweaks to the EHR from across the business are at such a high volume that we need a committee just to provide what they refer to as "air traffic control." salaries aren't top-tier, although they have made individual adjustments recently to account for market forces.