Developing an Information System in the Hospital - Case Study Example

Name: Tutor: Title: Case Study-Answering Questions Institution: Date: Question one There are several risks that can be identified in Biosense Project. Personnel and staffing risk is one of the risks that can be identified in Biosense Project. Risks that are associated with personnel and staffing risk include projects lack of adequate individuals with the required skills, project personnel lack of required skills or knowledge, inadequate experienced personnel, availability of IS professionals who are incompetent in the workplace and excessive utilization of consultants (Tesch, 2007). In Biosense Project, the personnel and staffing risk that prevail is existence of few individuals who have the skills that are needed in the project. Biosense can fail to work effectively in future due to inadequate skilled personnel and staff to carry out the huge task the project intends to perform. Due to Biosense’s big size and massive task, it is believed that the available IT teams and resources are not enough to attain the project’s goals. The work in Biosense project is too much and involving. Too much data is required to be transmitted to Biosense. Every hospital needs to standardize its patients and other medical data. Staffs at Centre for Disease Control (CDC) need to work together with every hospital in translating every data codes into standards recognized by the CDC’s software. Therefore, since Staffs to undertake these activities are very few, there is a possibility of personnel and staffing risk in Biosense project. Another risk that can be identified in Biosense Project is funding and scheduling risk. This risk entails budgeting requirements which can result into under funding of the whole project in the coming years (Tesch, 2007). In Biosense Project, funding and scheduling risk prevail in such a way that the project needs funds that can assist it to coordinate the entire health care systems in the country. Between 2005 and 2006, Biosense invested $ 100 million on technology and hospital recruitment alone. However, these funds were not enough for it to carry out its entire goals, thus creating funding risks. There is also a need to plan on how every hospital in the nation will be incorporated in the system. By 2007, Biosense was still in its limited form and could only assist in sharing information with state health departments. Therefore, the need to fund the entire project and schedule on how health care data bases will be coordinated has resulted into funding and scheduling risk. Ownership or sponsorship risk is another risk that can be identified in Biosense. It entails factors such as loss of interest within the project by corporate management, absence of corporate leadership, unsteady corporate environment, failure of management to make decisions at crucial points, conflict or disagreement between departments and immoral behavior (Tesch, 2007). In Biosense, the leadership of the project is not clearly highlighted. The project is to be managed by the United States of America Centre for Disease Control. This type of management normally entails a lot of bureaucracy, which can result into ineffective leadership. From the case, it is evident that there was conflict among the departments. In 2006 and 2007 hospital administrators and physicians in United States of America refused to coordinate with Biosense. Question two There are several management, organization and technology factors that explain why implementation of Biosense Project has been hard. The management factors that have made implementation of Biosense project difficult include poor project planning and poor communication. There is a problem of planning in Biosense since the project has failed to inform and convince all the stakeholders about the project’s direction. From the case, it is clear that in 2006 and 2007 Biosense faced some negative response from hospital administrators and physicians. By 2008, only 563 hospitals and organizations in state health refused to coordinate with Biosense. Young (2009) argues that projects should be planned in such a way that all the information pertaining the project’s direction can be obtained very easily by stakeholders. Stakeholders need to be informed and understand where the project is heading. Therefore, a good project should be planned in such a way that it clearly illustrates the project’s milestones and deliverables, it permits precise cost estimates to be produced, it makes the project team focused and aware of project development, it provide detailed resource requirements and valid and realistic time-scale. Poor communication, as another management factor that hinders implementation of Biosense Project, refers to how stakeholders are informed about the project. Stakeholders, such as Dr. John Rosenberg, are less informed about the project. Dr. John Rosenberg is therefore less informed, thus making him to believe that phone call is a better option than the proposed Biosense project. Organization factors that explain why implementation of Biosense project has been difficult include organizational size and strategy. Camilleri (2011) argues that the bigger the organization the more complex its structure becomes. A small organization on the other hand normally has simple structure. Biosense project is a very big project. Its structure therefore is too complicated, which makes its implementation difficult. From the case, it is clear that Biosense project is too big and requires many staffs for it to be implemented fully. It is expected to constantly collect and analyze health care data of the entire states. Under Biosense, essential information such as essential patient records, diagnoses and prescription need to be collected. The project also entails converting data into HL7 data messaging format, encrypting the data and transmitting them after every fifteen minutes via the web. Therefore, the structure of this project is too complicated, thus making it hard to implement. Technological factor that makes implementation of Biosense project difficult include technology advancement. Technology refers to the manner in which tasks are executed by employing tools, techniques, equipment and human know-how. Its advancement is normally the most common factor that hinders project implementation. In Biosense, for instance, the technology to be used is so advanced. There are very few staffs, both in Centre for Disease Control and other health care centers in the county, who can use the technology. Therefore, due to inadequate staffs to work on the technology, implementation of Biosense project has proved to be difficult. The technology is so advanced in such a way that all hospitals and health organizations in the state need to update and standardize patient and other medical data. This therefore has made very few hospitals and health organizations in the state to participate in the project, thus making its implementation difficult (Ball, 2010). Question three The new approach by CDC to improve pandemic warnings is a viable solution. The approach is viable since patient health records can be stored in an electronic form. Several records including the record used to document patient care, the record used for financial and legal information and the record used for research and quality enhancement can be stored electronically. This therefore makes the new approach proposed by CDC workable since by storing all of this information in an electronic form, the CDC can easily share information with professionals in healthcare sector. In case of any pandemic outbreak, the CDC can easily alert all the concerned healthcare officials. However, storing of healthcare records in an electronic form has some pros and cons. Storing of health records in an electronic form is advantageous since it offers organizations in healthcare sector with an opportunity to enhance quality of care and safety of patients. It is believed that the greatest challenge in the current world of unified healthcare delivery is to offer complete, applicable, manageable and timely information of the patient to every member of healthcare team. The use of Electronic health care records is also advantageous since it saves cost and minimizes workplace inefficiencies (McDaniel, 2009). Electronic use of healthcare records is also disadvantageous. It is believed that electronic health care records do lack standardized terminology, indexing and system architecture. Young (2000) argues that for an electronic health record to be shared there must be a developed standard language and a unique health identifier. Currently, there are several vendors with many software applications. Due to this, data cannot be shared unless gooey interface is provided. However, these interfaces are usually not precise and dependable. Question four Developing an IS system that will enable our large hospital to link with a nationwide monitoring system is an interesting idea. As an IS Director, in order to execute the task successfully, I would first ensure that all the health records of the patients are stored in an electronic form. This is necessary since it will assist in coding all the health records of the hospital. Health records such as the age of the patient, patient’s sex, residence ZIP code, ZIP code of medical facilities in a hospital, disease symptoms, diagnoses, medical procedures, onset of illness, prescribed medications and laboratory outcomes should be stored in an electronic form. The data codes for this information will then be developed and standardized in line with Biosense. The next step will be to devise an IS system that captures entire information pertaining patient’s health. The system will then be ready to be linked with nationwide monitoring system such as Biosense. References Ball, M., 2010, Nursing Informatics: Where Technology and Caring Meet. New York: Springer. Camilleri, E., 2011, Project Success: Critical Factors and Behaviours. London: Gower Publishing, Ltd. McDaniel, J., 2009, Advances in Information Technology and Communication in Health. New York: IOS Press. Tesch eat al., 2007, It project risk factors: the project management professionals perspective. . Young, M., 2009, Key Steps to Implement a Project Management Office. < http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/key-steps-to-implement-a-project-management-office.html> Young, M., 2000, Informatics for Healthcare Professionals. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis. Read More