Health Information and Management Systems Society - Report Example

Project Plan Introduction This paper focuses on a project that is to be implemented by 2025 at St. Matthews Hospital in Australia. It gives details of the project including its purpose, vision, background, objectives and implementation. It further gives a description of how the project incorporated project quality, human resources, and procurement and communication tools in ensuring proper project management. It concludes by giving recommendations and a conclusion on the success of project implementation by incorporating project quality, communications, human resources and project procurement. Background The goal of the project is to see that St. Matthews Hospital achieves HIMSS level 7 by 2025. The hospital is situated at Brisbane town of Australia. The Project is being sponsored by community donations, stakeholders and the government. The project manager by the name Mr. D. Clarke works for the government. He is an expert in project management which gives hope in the completion of this project by 2025. The purpose of the project The public health system of St. Matthews’s hospital is supported by the Division of General Practitioners which is a committed workforce. This system is however facing too much pressure. It has increasing indications of strain. This majorly due to very many aspects: the radical growth of population in Australia is a major factor together with the ageing population. New technology and new medicine is also a big contributor to the stress realized at the Hospital. However, there is a global shortage of hospital infrastructures and the number of specialists neither are not enough for instance for operating beds and theatres. The hospital has 400 beds which is not sufficient for the increasing population. By the end of 2025, the hospital reforms are targeted to reach HIMSS Level 7. This will comprise of safety, record accuracy and the general safety of the patient will thus be improved through an EMR system. An EMR system is a requirement as more plans towards insurance and Medicare shift towards pay-for working reimbursement, which converts into more tough needs of reporting. An important feature of the reforms includes proper planning of the project, proper quality control, procurement, communications and human resource. HIMSS stand for Health Information and Management Systems Society. This incorporates electronic exchange of consistent patient information with clinical and organizational stakeholders using the Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel's specifications of interoperability and the frameworks of Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise's. Most hospitals have only achieved the implementation stage 3 of HIMSS. This means that they still require clinical and nursing documentation like notes and flow sheets. So as to attain this level, Mr. Clarke’s project management skills in the integration of project quality, communications, human resources and procurement is vital. Objectives of the Project ( significance of achieving HIMSS level 7 by 2025) Achieving this level means the ability to easen workflow by minimizing the hours spent writing down information and by enhancing the management of data. This level also has the capability to be a good tool for examining the maintenance of health and doing reminders, offering information accessibility, the capture of clinical data, minimizing medical errors, enhancing productivity and improving information quality. This status will offer the hospital with an opportunity to fully explore its potential by enhancing its quality and the safety of patients. It also allows the physicians to clarify and make sure that the diagnosis given to patients are correct and predictive of their conditions and risk for repeat admission. Vision of the project To obtain tools and platforms that will enable St. Matthews Hospital to go forward and execute changes in provision of care, from regulating best care practices to evaluating information about the outcomes of patients. It allows a healthcare firm to sustain the actual sharing and utilization of health knowledge by providers and customers. It will enable the hospital to be able to hastily shift clinical data in and out of the system for its accessibility at further medical hospitals where and when needed by the patients from St. Matthews Hospital need it, with the correct privacy and security controls. Implementation Plan The implementation phase commences with the activation of EMR. This tests whether an organization is ready to work with EMR. It the general match of success factors in the implementation of EMR. There has been a drastic change in the use of computers, reachability to medical information and interconnectivity. This has greatly changed the way physicians during their practice, employ technology. Significant to implementing successfully, is the efficiency of the workflow of physicians and staff to that of the EMR usability design constrictions and flexibility. The successful evolution to EMR entails a clear comprehension of the process of patient care. Implementation may not work if the readiness of clinical workflow to the execution of EMR is poor. During implementation, training and familiarization of first users of EMR both ongoing and initial is very important and mandatory. Good training is a chief success factor for swift transition to a paperless system of patient care (Hersey, Blanchard, and Johnson 2005). Practical training immediately before going live has been recorded to be of great importance as the training is clear in the users’ minds. Any implementation that is successful needs a powerful relationship with the retailer partnership. This is to ensure that the retailer is responsive to ensure that the system is flexible so as to incorporate any modifications and improvements in the systems needed by the primary user or the medics. It is therefore important to ensure that the retailers and the human resources are available to aid in implementation. They are therefore expected to be on-site during implementation and should be reached with no problems all through the process of implementation. The St. Matthews Hospital will have a help desk that will provide efficient service to ensure that patients do not find other alternatives of getting and recording data. IT personnel will also be available to tackle software and hardware issues and convey to the vendor. A consultant will also be available to handle any necessary changes as form settles in to function. Implementation concept The major resources needed in the implementation of this project apart from the technicality and the IT aspect of it are the hospital’s own internal preparedness for the big change and the management of change. Before the implementation and installation of an EMR, the hospital’s preparedness must be looked at. St. Matthews Hospital must be ready for incorporate change by comprehending bigger contexts of the firm, identifying its core values, the concerns of the stakeholders and embracing and compelling the need for change . Engaging stakeholders in useful ways simply implies getting their full participation and efficient endorsement in the implementation process. An active participation in the various stakeholders in decision making is very important as it can facilitate the acceptance of the end-user of this system. One of the most important steps in adopting EMR is choosing the correct software. Technology comprises of software and hardware. Hardware involves structural factors like processing speed, use of tablets and workstation placements while software involves user interfaces and how the designed software holds work processes. Project Quality Management For project management, poor venture in quality management leads to excessive extra costs because of poor quality of the project (Kerner 2010). You will indeed spend more trying to fix problems after the project, and consumers will not be happy thus the view of the customer is greatly affected. Therefore, St. Matthews Hospital cannot afford to make mistakes in the implementation of HIMSS level 7. Organizations that have put in good quality frameworks and incorporated quality controls all through the life cycle of the project can boost the satisfaction of the customer and stakeholder, increase revenues, and reduce the cost of the project. For organizations that have implemented processes of quality management in the project life, it is evident that poor quality cost is bigger than the cost of instigating good quality controls. Nevertheless, it is usually hard to take the step of instigation quality control and the standards that are linked to it as ongoing projects may delay in their implementation process due to that. IT experts should provide plans in managing project quality and detect overruns of cost because of poor control of the project quality. Many projects overlook the expectations of customers and their intended goals. Sadly, for most organizations, the amount of quality defects and regions for improvement are also not followed. Executives of IT should carry out a detailed quality audit to detect areas of poor quality, and build a plan to tackle and correct quality problems. Priority should be given to the plan of attack by the biggest impact and positive effects to practices of project management and quality standards (Harold 2009). The requirements of projects change as the projects proceed through the life cycle. In coming up with a framework for quality management, project managers and IT experts should be flexible enough to respond to evolving business and technological situations without interfering with the project. The quality strategies and standards should also be included into the practices of project management, to ensure the proper quality levels. This project is very delicate and therefore quality management is very important. Project Human Resources The function of project human resources is the efficient use of all the stakeholders of the project in reaching the results of the project. While the skills of people such as motivation, leadership and team building. Techniques of human resource management ought to be dynamic to tackle the changing interpersonal relationships and stakeholders of projects. The ability of Mr. Clarke to influence and lead the project task will increase in stages. Motivating and mentoring of members of the team ascertains how the project draws near its potential. The influence of human resource projects does more than mentoring to empowering the group members realize their targets. The call for governance is very important for the completion of any IT project and for other deployment systems of IT. Governance is used to refer to the activities and interventions of top management in the implementation of this project. Organizational support from the top management is very important in achieving success in EMR implementation. There are key hardware, software and decisions of professional changes in roles that firms do not normally even consider when they start. Without serious commitment from top management, such stresses can very easily ruin the effort and vision of this project (Edsall & Adler, 2005). Top management commitment assists in ensuring sufficient allotment; supports efforts that are restored and facilitates steps of implementation. Project Procurement management Procurement when related to project management is the attaining of goods and services from organizations from outside. It can be called purchasing. Mr. Clarke does not really own this part as he cannot sign contracts with other companies. A plan for procurement management is important as it gives an explanation of how the process of procurement will be conducted. St. Matthews hospital for example, needs a lot of facilities before the completion of this project. If the procurement manager or project manager is not keen, equipment will be purchased which are not even necessary or that are faulty hence increasing the costs of the project. It should entail the type of contract that will be employed, the criteria for evaluation, the coordination of procurement and other concepts of the project like performance reporting (Bass 2006). Project Communications Management There are various ways to communicate in an organization; the bottom line is if the message is received as it was intended. Communication breakdown can be the ultimate cause of an organization’s failure (Lock 2007). Therefore, it should be taken seriously even in projects. In hospitals for example, it is very important for physicians to understand how to interpret machines used in the conveying of results to patients. Project Communications Management guarantees efficient communication among every member in the project team. Small projects simply need to follow routine for efficient communication. A project with sub-projects like this project with St. Matthews hospital, it is essential to design and execute a formal program of communications. This program should incorporate all the needs of the team to share information on the project, give feedback on the project and from the customer. Stakeholders also have communication needs which should be looked at.   Timeframe for completing the project A completely digital status first of all, requires that everybody understands what it means and be ready to embrace the change that come with it. Therefore educating the physicians, administrative staff and nurses on what is expected of them in order to get the job done is the first initiative. This will ensure that project quality, as discussed above is realized. It also easens the communication process as the entire hospital staff will be enlightened on the project plan. This process will take the whole of 2012 and 2013 as work still needs to go on in the hospital. A clear and well organized training timetable and plan will be provided to the entire St. Matthews Hospital staff. All that is required is commitment to attending all the training sessions. Purchasing of the hardware is then necessary. This is the procurement stage and as discussed above, management at this stage is handy. It may not really be need the project manager as in charge. Employment of IT consultants and EPIC IT will really come in handy at this stage. This will all take place in the first year of implementation, that is to say, 2014. This entails deciding whether to hardwire all the workstations particularly in the examination rooms or to go wireless. For this particular project, hardwire will definitely come in handy as it is a first time job and the location of computers in examination rooms is vital to the physicians. Upgrading of existing cables is also required and purchasing of new cables will also be done. This is in order to improve the hospital’s network to capacitate the bigger workflow at a good speed. This will cover the whole of 2012 and 2013 as the ordering process of the hardware in itself takes a number of months. Hardware decisions are very critical. One mistake or faulty device and the whole system in corrupt. An uninterruptible power supply capability will be the first hardware to be purchased. It is the best for workstations rather than plain surge protectors. An interface process with the current system at the hospital, ProMed will commence in 2015. This involves observation and data collection. A bimonthly conference call is important to monitor and ensure that the progress is going on just fine. By 2020, the final version should be approved and tested to make sure that there are no errors on the programming and that it is up to standard. By so doing, we will be ready for deployment in 2021 and 2022. A system to enter the history of patients into the EMR will then be developed. A critical checklist data with clear guidelines for nonclinical workers to feed in data will be developed by physicians. Temporary staff will be employed to feed in histories of all daily patients visiting the hospitals for checkups. Formal training will begin in 2023 but before then, the entire hospital staff will be required to be acquinted with the program by spending 2 hour sessions on various days working on a demo EMR version. After several months of familiarization, formal training will take over. By 2025 St. Matthews Hospital will be ready to go live on its new fully digital system. Likelihood of success, management and identification of risk There are several risks involved in achieving EMR. Many organizations shifting to EMRs will deal with administering medical records in hard copy, scanned and electronic medical records, index creation to assist in the identification of where data is being held, the costs linked with maintaining systems that are redundant and maintaining documents with necessary signatures of patients. Another risk is that documents may not pull through the medical record unless they are verified. To other parties that are interested, these files remain invisible. System mapping is also a risk. This is where documents and files are dispensed to an area within EMR. When very many places are created, the probability of the notes ending up in places where the medical practitioners do not know its whereabouts is very high. Since it is a totally new project, the standards will be set at a very high notch and will be expected to be strictly adhered to. The management especially Mr. Clarke, should ensure that frequent training and retraining of the employees is put in place for efficient work. Clear policies on safety and precautions should be clearly stated at every notice board of the organizations. This would be a good idea because the issues on safety will be well understood by both the management and employees. Conclusion Project managed is said to be the secret weapon of developed countries. Therefore, in pushing our targets for development, it has become important to implement the solutions brought about by project management to achieve our development goals. One major setback of project management is misappropriation of funds. How this can be avoided is what should be focused on during implementation of projects (Yukl 2007). The health sector is a very important sector in a community. This is because in the changing environment of today, diseases have become inevitable and therefore quality health facilities are important. Thus, any effort towards eliminating constraints that openly affect the accomplishment of project management in this sector is a right direction. Proper quality management is the solution in ensuring that achieving of HIMSS level 7 at St. Matthews hospital does not fail or is not abandoned in the process. Recommendations All organizations should be encouraged to set aside a project management department and a project manager appointed to oversee the project life cycle to completion. Every organization must have a residential project manager and no project should be handled by more than one project manager at a given time. Two or more managers at a time create loopholes in achieving the project objective. If there is proper management, authenticity of information, releasing of funds in time, efficient management of risks in projects and achievement of the benefits of projects will be realized. References Bass, B.M. , 2006, Leadership and Performance Beyond Expectations, New York: Free Press. Harold, K., 2009, Project Management, ( A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling), New Delhi : S. K Jain Publishers. Hersey, P., Blanchard, K. and Johnson, D.E., 2005 , Management of Organizational Behavior, London: Prentice-Hall International. Kerzner, H, 2010, Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling, Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. Lock, D., 2008, Project Management. Hampshire: Gower Press Publishing Ltd. Yukl, G.A., 2007, Leadership in Organizations, Sydney: Prentice-Hall. 1.1. 1.2. Read More