Essay Sample on Nurses: Essential to Systems Development Lifecycle for Quality Care

Introduction

The systems development life cycle (SDLC) is a model for planning and implementing changes within an organization. It is essential to include nurses in the systems development lifecycle because it helps them in understanding and owning up policies introduced in the healthcare organization. When nurses are excluded from the systems development lifecycle, there can be dire consequences to healthcare organizations and thereby negatively affecting the quality of care to patients (Louis, 2011).

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The steps of systems development lifecycle include system planning, system analysis, system design, implementation and deployment, integration and system testing as well as maintenance. Planning is the first stage and the most crucial while creating a successful systems development lifecycle. It is at this stage that the stakeholders of the healthcare organization decide their objectives. For instance, stakeholders such as nurses define the challenges of the organization as well as ways of enhancing the competitiveness of the quality of care provided. System analysis involves performing system and feasibility studies as well as ensuring an effective communication system with clients. System design involves the definition of the elements of the system, such as its components and security features. The implementation stage involves the physical construction of the system, training of staff members on how to use the system (Louis, 2011). The system maintenance stage involves regularly evaluating the performance of the system and replacing of old hardware.

Some of the steps followed by the health organization where I work while buying and implementing health information technology system include planning and assembling the right team, assessing the budget, ensuring effective operational integration as well as planning for the evaluation of the system.

Nurses contribute to decision-making at each step of the SDLC when purchasing a new health information technology in many ways, such as developing security systems, conducting risk assessments, as well as identifying and evaluating system design alternatives. Besides, nurses can contribute to the system planning stage by conducting feasibility tests for the system and providing patient's feedback for consideration into the new health information technology. During the acquisition and development stage, nurses can contribute by helping in defining the components and elements needed in the system as well as delivering and developing the specifications of the design (Louis, 2011).

Healthcare organizations are faced with many challenges and consequences as a result of not involving nurses in each step of SDLC when buying a new health information technology system. Some of the consequences a healthcare organization may face include increased risks within the facilities and difficulties while implementing the SDLC process. Besides, healthcare organizations are unable to pick the best choice for object-oriented projects as well as the inability to achieve long-term projects. Also, institutions that fail to involve nurses in SDLC are unable to classify as well as prioritize tasks (Laureate Education, 2018). For instance, when nurses are not included in the system planning stage, an organization is unable to define the objectives of projects as well as inefficient feasibility tests for the implementation of health information technology. When nurses are not involved in the development and the acquisition stage, the healthcare organization is to identify and deliver the design specifications of the health information technology system. During the implementation stage, when nurses are not involved, the organization is unable to conduct appropriate training on how to use the system as well as the inability to develop the correct writing codes as well as testing of the system.

Potential issues that are likely to appear when nurses are not involved in each stage of SDLC include increased instances of patient dissatisfaction, low quality of patient care, and demotivated staff within the organization as well as lack of efficient feedback mechanism among the staff members (Louis, 2011). Involving nurses in all steps of the SDLC helps enables them to have a sense of belonging within the organization and thus become motivated in providing a better quality of care to their patients. Besides, by involving nurses in all the steps of SDLC, the organization is able to achieve increased patient trust and satisfaction, more positive professional communication as well as reduced instances of patient's anxiety and emotions (Laureate Education, 2018).

Conclusion

Within my nursing practice and healthcare organization, I contributed in the selection of new health information technology systems in various ways. For instance, I was involved in the planning stage of the system, which enabled me to provide insights on how to communicate with patients about the information technology system as well as helping the management in conducting feasibility tests for the system. Being involved in the process of SDLC is impactful to both nurses and the healthcare organization since it helps in ensuring better working relationships among all staff members of an organization as well as promoting quality health care.

References

Louis, I. (2011, August 17). Systems development life cycle (SDLC) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtpyjPrpyX8

Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). Interoperability, Standards, and Security [Video file].