Implementation of Health Information Technology - Research Paper Example

Topic: Implementation of scanning system Executive summary Health information systems as well as the Scanning system are the best instruments in regards to achieving the general goals that Curtin hospital as well as any other hospital has of availing the most reliable care and outcome for patients through taking advantage of the existing knowledge as far as evidence based care for patients is concerned (Rodrigues, 2010). The proposed implementation of the scanned systems has an excellent strategic context if the hospital successfully executes it and in time. This project plan will describe in detail the implementation and programming as well as other important issues that will come into play when the new system is being incorporated in to the functions of the hospital for administrative, financial and legal management services. The management and the board of the hospital has identified that proper planning and organization is a prerequisite for the existing system to be successfully replaced by the new system. Since there are many benefits that are associated with the scanning system, Curtin Hospital will execute the implementation of the system and this plan will address the steps that will be involved in the conversion of paper records into electronic documents through the use of the scanning system. Introduction Health information systems generally refer to the systems that are employing in capturing, storage, management or transmission of information that is associated to the health of persons or the activities of the firms that work in the health industry (Winter & Haux, 2011). This delineation entails items like district level regular information structures, investigation systems for diseases as well as lab data, client management systems and HRM data systems (Beaver, 2003). Largely, a HIS that is functioning correctly integrates efforts in the collection, processing, reporting and usage of health information and knowledge to impact policy and decision making and a variety of health outcomes (Tan, Payton & Tan, 2010). Health Information Systems improve the performance of staff, enhances the cleanliness of data and creates a more robust health care delivery. Among the important discussions that are prevailing in regards to the health care sector is the benefits that are associated with the use of scanned records as well as the advancement of the healthcare data collection. The scanning system seeks to avail practical and reliable support for the patients who are seeking health services as well as facilities that are in the hospital. A scanning system should include a technical team that will include systems and database administrator, an expert in applications who will be required for the provision of training and engineers who will handle maintenance of the different components of the system (Wager, Lee & Glaser, 2013). This project plan seeks to guide the implementation of a scanned medical record that will enhance clinical access to patients’ information while addressing issues of delayed medical records to clinical areas or other cases of missing files. Background Curtin Hospital is a 300-bed public metropolitan hospital that operates a several clinical areas, an emergency department, an inpatient department as well as a laboratory and pharmacy. The employees at the hospital are hired after a rigorous recruitment process that ensures they are qualified and able to adhere to the mission and vision of the hospital. Curtin Hospital is reputed for providing friendly service to all the patients that visit it and having a strong commitment to the development of the nursing experience. The three hundred-bed hospital stands on fifteen hectares of land and employs more than 1500 employee of which more than a half are nurses. The hospital plans to expand in size as well as the services that if offers to reach a bed capacity of five hundred while also starting an ambulance service by 2017. Currently, the hospital works with paper based medical recording and most of its medical records are in storage at a different site from the hospital so that it can be able to maintain only records that cover the admissions that have been done in the last twenty four months at a small section of the site. All the order request that issued by the hospital are also in hard copy making the system inefficient as there are cases where information goes missing or is misplaced and thus it does not reach the destination it was supposed to reach. This makes it necessary for an upgrade of the hospital’s systems so that they can be able to deal with the demand that is set to increase with the expansion that expected. The hospital’s board as well as the CEO and other stakeholders arrived at the decision that a new electronic scanning system will have to be implemented and executed to make sure that information is not lost, to enable staff take full advantage of the available resources as well as avail an enhanced degree of patient care. Objective and scope of the project The key strategic goals associated with this project that is to be executed at the Curtin Hospital are: To make sure that the records are safeguarded for unauthorised access through maintaining integrity during electronic transmission of information. To present precise and exact health information through scanning and preparing the hard copy records into electronic ones that can be accessed through a new software that will accompany the scanning system. To provide for ease of access of the health records that are archived when they are needed for one reason or another. To incorporate the existing health records into a central health record system as well as catalogue them to enable an ease of access in case they are needed. To identify the workflow and backlog problems that may be in existence in the different hospital departments and propose to the management different approaches of dealing with the issues. To make sure that patients have access to reliable support as well as outcome while assessing the efficiency of the treatment that they receive. To make available resourceful and proficient support in relation to decision making to ensure that the hospital is managed in a better way. To categorise the costs as well as the advantages that are linked to the execution of scanning system as well as the overall Health Information System. To point out the risks that are faced in the process of filing and storage of records and information and come up with ways of alleviating them. Scope of the project Implementation will initially be done on a trial run basis that will target the health records that were filed in the past twelve months which will be scanned in readiness for incorporation into a central health record system. This trial run will be used to identify any limitations and issues associated with the use and maintenance of a health information system in the hospital. The trial run will be executed concurrently with the existing filing system to ensure that there are no records that are lost in the event that the implementation fails. After identifying and solving any issues that might exist, the rest of the records will be grouped and scanned for incorporation into the health information systems. The planning of the project to the actual start of the project is estimated to take about twelve months and all the existing health records should be scanned within the next twenty four months. The scope will also entail: Managing data as well as knowledge discovery, which are critical in making decisions, managing the health of the public, assessing standards as well as integrity and security issues. Health information resources like medical records of patients, instruments and equipment, software and data capturing devices, storage, retrieval as well as optimization of the usage of health information (Collier & Evans, 2010). Advancement of new frameworks and applications in regard to health information systems which will encompass information systems like health records, hospital information systems as well as data exchange and integration. They will also include the delivery of health services, flow of work, management of data, extraction of information as well as modelling of information systems, their design and development. Project structure and governance Curtin Hospital’s scanning system is due for execution from October 1st, 2014 and the authorisation of the system is supposed to be reached upon agreement as well as consent from the administrators of all the departments that are involved. The system designs that they will settle on should be decided by December 2014 so that the implementations can be started by January 2015. With proper resources as well as workers that are conversant with the system, the scanning will be executed a scanning team and staff from the IT department who are conversant with health information systems. These teams will be tasked with the entering and ordering of the patients’ data, imaging services, test results as well as prescriptions in a chronological order. The scanning system will consist of the scan unit that will do the actual scanning together with hardware and software that will enable it to work in the manner it is intended to. Must encompass a firewall that will be responsible for the protection of the records of the patients from being accessed without permission (Smith, 2000). The systems will be protected by security codes which all staff will be required to enter before they can be able to access the records in the system (Tan, 2001). The processing speed of the system will be efficient to avoid delays while being used and it will integrate timeouts that will require re-entering of the security codes before the system can be accessed again. Project resources The project will have an executive committee that will be comprised of the financial officer as well as the head of all of the departments as well as the project coordinator of the scanning project. This executive committee will be supposed to come up with schedules of the overall project and ensure that the objectives of the project are followed. The committee will also be responsible for the approval of funds that will be used in the purchase of the scanning equipment as well as implementing the resources. It will make sure that resources are availed and maintained for continued implementation and system usage while supporting the team working on the project in developing a mitigation plan if need be. The project will also have a core working group that will be responsible for the actual scanning of the documents and will mostly be comprised of the members of the IT department as well as other core representatives from various functional areas of the hospital. The team will come up with the techniques needed to implement the project while being responsible for the daily management of the activities associated with the project. The team will come up with status reports for the project, manage the risks and resources and also develop a schedule of review and maintenance. Other resources needed in the project include: Computers Various types of scanners Local area networks and health information networks Training leaflets and manuals for training the staff who will operate the systems A safety team Stakeholder identification The scanning system will affect a number of stakeholders that will include patients, doctors, and nurses among others. The scanning system will aim to improve the quality of care that patients get at the hospital, their care processes, research as well as management of admission in the wards which will delivered with ease through utilizing health information systems. The system will assist the doctors to improve the quality of healthcare they will provide to patients while also increasing the safety of patients based on the reliable data and electronic methods of administering prescriptions (OCarroll, 2003). With the use of the scanning system, the nurses will provide better assistance to the doctors who are tasked with the provision of reliable health services to the patients. Subordinate health support staff will be able to accord support services to the hospital in a more efficient manner that they did before. After the system is implemented, the administration of the hospital will be in a better position to monitor and evaluate the improvement in efficacy in relation to the care of patients and their safety. The system will also play a big part in improving the trust that the community which the hospital serves has on the hospital and therefore assist the hospital’s business grow. Since the government is responsible for the policies that guide the hospital as well as allocation of funds for different projects based on tangible results, the ministry of health will be interested in the outcome of the implementation of the project. Risk identification The project may face a number of risks before, during and also after the approval which have to be considered before the execution and some of the risks and their solutions include: The risk of the project not being approved which may be as a result of lack of funding or the board not being convinced in terms of cost benefit ratio. To deal with this issue, a scaled down version of the project which does not need as must funding may be implemented as a replacement so that if the trial project is successful, the board will be convinced of the benefits of the larger project. Inadequate resources may also hamper the project but this is limited to the scanning phase which will need additional workers as there are very many recorded that are supposed to be dealt with. Hardware and software problems that may be encountered during scanning can be sorted by the suppliers who will be notified promptly so that they can provide replacements and this should be considered when drafting the purchase contract. There might also be lack of cooperation from various workers and this can be addressed through coming up with improved methods of change management such as offering training as well as effective communication. Change management method In the process of the implementation, it will be imperative that the all the stakeholders who will be involved be kept informed of the progress of the project. The people who will be working with the new system should be trained on how the system works and informed of the benefits that are associated with its implementation. Other important communication to be disseminated to the various stakeholders through emails and memos so that they can remain informed throughout the execution of the project. Curtin Hospital will also make sure that information concerning the development of the implementation is accessible through its website and newsletter where the staff and patients who are interested can follow the progress. The hospital will make sure to promote the benefits associated with the system so that the patients who come to the hospital can be comfortable with the new system handling their records. Timeline Annual project activity Timeline for completion (months) Activity J F M A M J J A S O N D Pre-Project (August 2014-October 2014) Planning and groundwork on the scanning system Consideration of the project by board and approval Project Preparation January 2015-April 2015 Organize implementing teams, procure hardware, software and other resources, train teams etc. Implement System in Curtin Hospital May 2015 – May 2016 Official contract signing Project commencement meeting addressing all areas of the project to brief all steering stakeholders involved in the project and responsible for the implementation of the System Develop promotion, authority, execution strategy, interface requirements as well as policy documentation Installation and configuration of scanning system in Curtin Hospital Training on the new system (May 2016 – Aug 2016) training of existing and new workers in every sector of Curtin Hospital on proper use of implemented system Adopting the system (September 2016) Execution of the system in all the areas Conclusion With the implementation of the scanning system at the hospital, patient care will be made safer and delivered without wastes in relation to record keeping and time as records will always be available when needed. It will also enhance the delivery of comprehensice services with an increased degree of reliability therefore reducing time and effort of dealing with this. The staff will also have enough time to assist patients when the methods of documenting are standardized since the scanning system will greatly simplify the activities in the hospital. References Beaver, K. (2003). Healthcare information systems (1st ed.). Boca Raton, Fla.: Auerbach Publications. Collier, D., & Evans, J. (2010). OM2 (1st ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. OCarroll, P. (2003). Public health informatics and information systems (1st ed.). New York: Springer. Rodrigues, J. (2010). Health information systems (1st ed.). Hershey, Pa.: IGI Global (701 E. Chocolate Avenue, Hershey, Pennsylvania, 17033, USA). Smith, J. (2000). Health management information systems (1st ed.). Buckingham: Open University Press. Tan, J. (2001). Health management information systems (1st ed.). Gaithersburg, Md.: Aspen Publishers. Tan, J., Payton, F., & Tan, J. (2010). Adaptive health management information systems (1st ed.). Sudbury, Mass.: Jones and Bartlett Publishers. Wager, K., Lee, F., & Glaser, J. (2013). Health care information systems (1st ed.). Winter, A., & Haux, R. (2011). Health information systems (1st ed.). London: Springer. Read More