NURS 6051: Transforming Nursing and Healthcare Through Technology | Module 5

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Analyze how inclusion of the nurse in the purchasing of health information technology systems impacts healthcare organizations
• Analyze the impact of nurse inclusion on each step of the systems development life cycle

Required Readings

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

• Chapter 9, “Systems Development Life Cycle: Nursing Informatics and Organizational Decision Making” (pp. 175–187)
• Chapter 12, “Electronic Security” (pp. 229–242)
• Chapter 13, “Workflow and Beyond Meaningful Use” (pp. 245–261)

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (n.d.a). Health IT evaluation toolkit and evaluation measures quick reference guide. Retrieved September 27, 2018, from https://healthit.ahrq.gov/health-it-tools-and-resources/evaluation-resources/health-it-evaluation-toolkit-and-evaluation-measures-quick-reference

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (n.d.b). Workflow assessment for health IT toolkit. Retrieved September 27, 2018, from https://healthit.ahrq.gov/health-it-tools-and-resources/evaluation-resources/workflow-assessment-health-it-toolkit

Required Media NURS 6051: Module 5: The Nurse Leader and the System Development Life Cycle

Louis, I. (2011, August 17). Systems development life cycle (SDLC) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtpyjPrpyX8

Laureate Education (Producer). (2018). Interoperability, Standards, and Security [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Discussion: The Inclusion of Nurses in the Systems Development Life Cycle

In the media introduction to this module, it was suggested that you as a nurse have an important role in the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC). With a focus on patient care and outcomes, nurses may not always see themselves as contributors to the development of new systems. However, as you may have observed in your own experience, exclusion of nurse contributions when implementing systems can have dire consequences.

In this Discussion, you will consider the role you might play in systems development and the ramifications of not being an active participant in systems development.

To Prepare:

• Review the steps of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) as presented in the Resources.
• Reflect on your own healthcare organization and consider any steps your healthcare organization goes through when purchasing and implementing a new health information technology system.
• Consider what a nurse might contribute to decisions made at each stage of the SDLC when planning for new health information technology.

By Day 3 of Week 9

Post a description of what you believe to be the consequences of a healthcare organization not involving nurses in each stage of the SDLC when purchasing and implementing a new health information technology system. Provide specific examples of potential issues at each stage of the SDLC and explain how the inclusion of nurses may help address these issues. Then, explain whether you had any input in the selection and planning of new health information technology systems in your nursing practice or healthcare organization and explain potential impacts of being included or not in the decision-making process. Be specific and provide examples.

By Day 6 of Week 9

Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days, by offering additional thoughts regarding the examples shared, SDLC-related issues, and ideas on how the inclusion of nurses might have impacted the example described by your colleagues. NURS 6051: Module 5: The Nurse Leader and the System Development Life Cycle

 

ADDITIONAL INFO 

The Nurse Leader and the System Development Life Cycle

Introduction

The system development life cycle (SDLC) is a well-established model for managing the development of systems. It provides a structured approach for determining and implementing requirements, designing and developing software, testing, deploying and supporting versions of an application over time. The SDLC can be used by organizations large and small to support project planning, budgeting, estimating risk and identifying risks early on during project initiation.

Identification

As a nurse leader, you’re responsible for helping your team develop a system of care. In order to do this well, you need to understand the purpose of the system and the goals that it will serve. If you don’t know what these things are, how can you expect others on your team—people who may be unfamiliar with nursing or healthcare in general—to know?

You should also consider who will use this system: patients? Their families? Their caregivers (such as family members)? Who else might benefit from having access to information about their care? This is where user experience design comes into play; it allows us as designers to imagine how users might interact with our designs so we can position them correctly within our UX design process from start-to-finish!

Feasibility study

As you begin to define the problem, it’s important to remember that you are not going to solve every problem. You are only going to be able to help people with the issues they’ve identified as their own.

So when it comes time for your feasibility study, focus on setting goals that align with what your team needs and want. The more ambitious they can be without worrying about being unrealistic or taking it too far, the better off everyone will be!

For example: “I want my employees at work every day.” Or: “I want my team’s morale level up by 50% within six months.” And so on…

System analysis

System analysis

The system analysis phase is a critical step in the SDLC. It focuses on gaining a thorough understanding of your current processes, systems and structures, as well as identifying their strengths and weaknesses so that you can make informed decisions about how to improve them.

In this phase you will identify problems within your organization by examining its current state—and by doing so you’ll also be able to identify opportunities for improvement.

Detailed system design

A system design is a description of the system’s hardware, software and documentation. It should include a description of how the system will be used by its users, including information about their abilities, skills, training and experience. The design also describes how it will be operated by operators: what tasks they will perform; what equipment they need; who has access to which parts of the system; whether standards for operating procedures exist (such as labelling bottles); what kind(s) of support exists locally or nationally (e.g., an emergency plan).

Implementation and maintenance

Implementation is the process of putting a system into use. Maintenance is the ongoing process of keeping a system operating. Systems are often implemented and maintained by different people, teams, departments and organizations.

Takeaway:

Takeaway:

The takeaway is the most important part of a blog. It summarizes the main points and should be short, to the point and easy to understand.

Conclusion

I hope this has been helpful in understanding how to approach system development projects. As you can see, there are many things to think about when designing a system. The first step should always be identifying the needs of your users and then working with them to come up with an idea of what they want from the system. It’s also important that everyone involved in developing this system understands how their individual role fits into the whole picture so that they’re not just doing one thing without knowing what’s going on elsewhere within those departments (i.e., other stakeholders).