The most powerful case study for Big Data can be found in the medical field. Not only is real-time data vastly important, but hospitals collect an unending supply of patient and drug data, all of which falls under regulatory demands. There are few places that so perfectly bring together all the challenges that Big Data faces as a technology.

To open a window on the power of Big Data in a hospital setting, John Furrier (@furrier) and Peter Burris (@plburris), cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, traveled to the Informatica World 2016 conference in San Francisco. There, they spoke to Mavis Girlinghouse, systems director of Business Intelligence at CHRISTUS Health.

Pairing Big Data with healthcare

The conversation started as Girlinghouse described the moment when she knew data was taking root. She said it started when people were asking questions and correlating data across the hospital. She realized then that people were starting to think differently about data.

“It’s exciting to know you’re changing the face of healthcare because of the data,” she said. On the efficiency side, being able to enter accurate orders with no middleman, that’s one of the biggest things with regard to patient-physician care, she added.

New data, new possibilities

Girlinghouse explained how she knew this round of technology was a winner. “In my mind, if you look around, the other industries have been successful,” she said. She pointed out that Informatica brought the tools to be successful without a company having to build everything on their own.

She then related a case where real-time Big Data made a difference — a program that monitored patients for sepsis and would set an alert if a patient matching that profile walked in. This potentially saved lives. How can you not move forward with this, she asked, referring to Big Data, knowing it will make such a large impact on the patients who walk through the door?

Watch the full video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of Informatica World 2016.

Photo by SiliconANGLE