Project Plan for Choosing and Implementing a Departmental-Level Information System

Introduction

The paper contains the plan for choosing and implementing a departmental-level system of information in a hospital. In this paper, the paper examines the problem which justifies the execution of the intervention project, various stakeholders of the project, the scope and goal of the project. Additionally, it analyzes the costs, set-up, and the operational issues involved in the project. Moreover, the paper analyzes the project management process involved in the project, highlighting the critical steps which will aid in accomplishing the project within the designated time. Furthermore, the paper identifies some of the indicators that will indicate whether the project is succeeding or not. Wrapping up the plan is the concise summary of the ongoing maintenance, training, and support that will ensure that the project continues to succeed.

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In a healthcare setting, one of the main problems experienced is poor keeping of patients' records which consequently leads to an inadequate service to patients. Handayani (2017) gives an example of the combined military hospitals (CMHs) whereby, the current working environment involves the use of manual information system where they use the paper-based file system to compile and keep the patients' records. By using the manual system of keeping patient records, nurses experience much pressure since they ought to be correct every time they make medical data entries. The main challenge is that human beings are not always perfect by nature. For the manual system to be properly managed, the hospital administration has to run continuous orientation programs to keep the staff abreast and motivated to follow the right procedures. In the manual entries, details of patients can be accidentally switched by the medical attendants, therefore; this may be most likely to cause lethal effects in serving the patients since the patient may end up getting the prescriptions which should be administered to another different patient. As a result, various complications may arise due to the incompatibility of the patient's requirements for proper treatment. The patient's details are also likely to be inconsistent thereby, making it tough to follow the historical trends of information discovery about the patient's illness. Much of such exorbitant programs can be minimized through automation of the hospital information system. According to Wager (2017), the manual data management requires more physical effort and space for proper tracking of papers, finding the required information or ensuring that the details of patients are very safe and secure. The problem is even more evident when some corrections need to be made in the already written document, or if some part of the patient's data should be updated. In that case, the whole document may need to be redone instead of just making quick updates. In the paper-based system of filing, the details of a patient are supposed to be entered multiple times; the documents may also require to be written down and then copied to produce two or more replicas for official use (Handayani, 2017). The application of the modern hospital information system may be the best option for minimizing the duplication in the patient's data management (Wager, 2017). Moreover, since the information concerning a particular patient may be stored in a different place, the medical attendant may find it difficult to respond to some queries about a given patient before consulting the person holding such information. As a result, Handayani (2017) argues that much time is spent in recording the information about a particular patient as well as coming up with the complete historical treatment data which may be very significant for the proper administration of care and treatment.

Due to the numerous challenges posed by the manual data entry system, the following are the key stakeholders who are adversely affected. First, the doctors attending to patients. Most of the time, it is the doctors who handle the patients at the hospital who find it very difficult while handling the patient's data. The doctor or physician has to enter the required data once, twice manually or more times depending on the data requirements. As a result, this may take much time for recording data or track the patient's information especially when such information is accidentally mismatched with other patient's details, or misplaced. Such like pressure might be alleviated when the proper hospital information system is adopted. Second, patients may also be adversely affected especially if their details got lost or mismatched with others. Various limitations of manual data entry system such as mismatching patient's details with others may lead to adverse events in the administration of healthcare especially when the patient ends up receiving a different treatment other than that compatible to him or her. Wager (2017) defines an adverse event as an unexpected medical problem which may occur as a result of a medical error other than treatment or prescription drug. Adverse events may pose very undesirable outcomes for patients. They are, however, unintentional and also avoidable. Adverse events may lead to permanent disabilities or even death of a patient. Moreover, another stakeholder affected by the manual data entry management is the hospital management. Since the manual record keeping requires papers and skills of data entry, the hospital administration has to incur costs of purchasing data entry documents. Moreover, staff orientations may also be very necessary for the proper management of the hospital data, and that also requires some funds.

According to Sultan (2014), the solution to this problem would be provided by the application of an appropriate technology-based Hospital Information System (HIS) such as the Electronic Health Records System (EHR). The electronic health records are very efficient and effective for improving access to the required clinical data which consequently leads to better patient care. Given the necessary clinical requirements, the electronic health records system reduces the bulkiness of storing, retrieving, and managing paper records. According to Handayani (2017), the doctors using electronic health records find it very easy to access the patient's clinical data records quickly, therefore, enhancing just-on-time patient care and treatment. Apart from that, the electronic health records are good for the proper development and maintenance of efficient clinical workflows. In addition to that, the EHR system minimizes medical errors which may otherwise be associated with human imperfections in the manual entry system. They also make it very easy for doctors to make proper decisions. It provides such quality services to patients through the application of programs such as the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) which in conjunction with other medical programs; ensure that the required patient details are appropriately recorded and stored for future reference. Furthermore, the electronic health records system offers the opportunities for seamless interactions with the affiliated clinics, pharmacies, hospitals or laboratories which enable the doctors and patients to provide and receive proper healthcare conveniently.

The electronic health records system is proposed to run at the cost of $200,000. The estimated cost is only incurred majorly at the beginning of the project; however, the subsequent operating costs are minimal. The costs are supposed to cater to the following, vendor costs including training, software, and interface. It also takes care of the costs for hardware such as the costs of printers, database servers, and desktop computers. According to Sultan (2014), the other costs involved in the initial establishment of the electronic health records system are the costs of wiring, surge protectors, and remodeling. The additional costs will be incurred in hiring the project manager, compensating the project team, and staff orientation.

The Electronic Health Records System shall be designed to fit into the available floor plan and space to minimize extra expenses for carrying out renovations. The EHR system will be located at the most appropriate place for efficient workflow. Computers will be placed in every office where, according to Wager (2017), the staff members will be able to enter data conveniently. The printers will be located everywhere the staff members will likely need to produce printed documents for the patients. Within each exam room, there shall be installed workstations. The medical staff will then be trained on how to use the Electronic Health Records System conveniently to eliminate paperwork.

The project management process involved in this project shall involve the following; the analysis of workflow and redesign, modification of the facility, installing the hardware, configuring the software, establishing a backup system, entering data, dealing with the existing papers, and training the medical staff on how to use the electronic health records system. First, the project team shall analyze the previous work processes that were completed in the previous system to find out if there are opportunities for developing more efficient and effective designs for the new work-flows. Examples of possible changes that shall be implemented include the application of electronic messages instead of the traditional paper phone messages. After the successful establishment of the proper work-flow analysis, and redesign, the facilities shall be modified to fit the new technology-based system as proposed by Handayani (2017). The following are some of the significant modifications that will be applied in the new technology-based system. A triangular orientation shall be created between the physician, patient, and the monitor to enhance eye contact while interacting. It will also get designed in such a way as to allow the physician to be very close to the patient that he or she can touch the patient while administering the medical assessment. The keyboard height shall be put in such a way that it will be convenient for the physician to use it whenever the need arises easily. The hardwired desktop computers shall be purchased to minimize the maintenance costs which may be incurred after that. The project management team shall after that, select the hardware which is most suitable for servers and network. After the selection, the project team shall establish a small off-site test installation for the workstation, printers, a scanner, and the server. After the installation of the software, a significant amount of testing shall be done to ensure that the system is working correctly and undeterred (Wager, 2017). The staff members with less computer experience will then be allowed to familiarize with the system so that they may find it easy to use them when the system is completely installed conveniently. The common programs that will be considered will involve the following, the word-processing program, e-mail, and the operating system configuration. The team shall after that, consider the most appropriate software configuration which provides the required data security, proper laboratory management programs, and easy-to-follow templates. The project management team shall after that, develop multiple backup and recovery methods and put them to test before going live. After all these steps are finished, the old data shall be loaded into the system, followed by subsequent new data as they arise.

Conclusion

The most critical steps which will most likely take very long time are; the analysis of workflow and redesign, modification of the facility, installing the hardware, configuring the software, establishing a backup system, and training the medical staff...