The Inclusion of Nurses in the Systems Development Life Cycle - Essay Example

"The Inclusion of Nurses in the Systems Development Life Cycle" is a great example of a paper on care. The system development life cycle (SDLC) defines all the stages undergone by an organization when adopting an effective information system. Large businesses that wish to shift to a new information technology uses SDLC. Healthcare, just like other businesses, needs to apply the system development life cycle. The common areas in which SDLC becomes useful to include identifying the organizational needs and involving key stakeholders during the implementation process. Nurses and other ancillary health professionals need to be included when adopting a new information system. The process involved in SDLC follows an order from start to closing, including the feasibility phase, analysis, designing, implementation, testing, and maintenance phase (Gutiérrez-Ibarluzea, Chiumente & Dauben, 2017). Each of the mentioned phases needs the inclusion of a healthcare nurse, failure to which impair the effectiveness of the system.
The feasibility phase helps in determining the appropriateness of the new system and if it is worth implementing. Nurses understand the flow of patients in healthcare facilities and can give vital information on whether the new technology will prove effective or not. Therefore, the consequence of not involving nurses at the feasibility stage can serve detrimental to the long-term operation of the new system. The analysis phase involves an in-depth examination of what the system requires for successful operation. Nurses are patients' managers and therefore, need to be included during the analysis phase. Failure to involve nurses during the analysis phase has a negative impact on the new system. Nurses dictate the overall work follow in a health facility. If not included in the analysis phases, potentially negative issues might not be identified and reported. The third process is known as the design phase and it involves the identification of system programs and determining how the programs communicate. Nurses' ideas at the input stage are necessary since they are the ones who will use the system. Nurses play the role of determining whether the newly developed system is user-friendly to warrant continued implementation. Failure to include nurses can result in the omission of essential data for effective operation. For example, I had an experience some years back when the organization I am working with failed to involve nurses when developing a health information technology system (Wong et al., 2018). When the system began operating, some vital data were missing, which reduced the system's effectiveness.

The implementation phase involves putting the design into practice based on the chosen programming language. Failure to include nurses during the implementation phase can result in a system that is not helpful to nurses. Nurses are the primary users of the health information system, hence need to be familiar with the newly adopted system. Nurses should be conversant with how the system works and feel comfortable for better patient outcomes. Nurses' involvement in the implementation ensures positive attitudes when working with the newly developed system. The testing phase is another stage in SDLC that requires nurses' involvement. The testing phase involves determining whether the system will accomplish organizational goals. Failure to involve nurses in the testing phases can result in a system that does not meet nurse-patient needs. Nurses need to be involved during the testing phase to ensure necessary changes or modifications to improve the system (Singletary & Baker, 2019). Maintenance is the last stage in SDLC and involves updating the system to the current standard. Failure to include nurses during maintenance can result in an obsolete system that does not conform to modern standards.
I reflect on when the organization I work for made a shift to using new health information technology (HIT). I was specifically appointed to see the project through and report any challenges and issues that might impact overall operation. I had to relate the project phases to the real nurse-patient practice.