Assume you are part of a team charged with leading the implementation of CPOE within Health Matters. How would you approach the task? What would you do first? Next? Who should be involved in the team? Lead the team?
Health Matters is a large health system involving Cooper Memorial Hospital, Ashley Valley Hospital, nine outpatient care clinics, and three imaging centers. Implementing the computerized provider order entry (CPOE) system within Health Matters would require identification of the needs of the personnel in the different settings within the healthcare organization. The implementation process of the information system should be approached with a view to making the system implementation succeed. It would be important to learn the factors which made a section of personnel to reject the previous CPOE system. By understanding the factors, they would be evaluated to determine whether they would influence the personnel to reject the proposed new system. It would also be known whether the person who rejected the implementation of the health information system was influenced by internal or external factors.
I would act as a team leader to help Health Matters implement CPOE by guiding the implementation team through five (5) stages. The first stage would involve strategic planning. At this stage, a team would be formed to be involved in the implementation process. The team would have representatives from all departments within Health Matters. All matters concerning the proposed CPOE system would be reported to the project team. The team would examine the current information processes and information flow within Health Matters. The project objectives would be formulated at this stage. In addition, an elaborate project plan would be drawn to contain all matters of the proposed CPOE system. It would be essential to involve personnel from all departments within Health Matters. The second stage would involve reviewing procedures.
Software capabilities would be reviewed, manual processes would be identified, and standard operating procedures would be developed. The third stage would involve data collection and re-organization. The stage would also involve converting data to the required form and reviewing all data input within Health Matters. The fourth stage would involve training of personnel and testing of the CPOE system. It would be essential to train all personnel within Health Matters so that they would understand how to use the various components of the system with minimal errors. They would also be taught basic troubleshooting skills. System testing would involve pre-testing the database, verifying test results, and performing final testing. The last stage would be the CPOE system implementation and evaluation. The evaluation would provide hints on the success level of the system implementation. Changes in the implemented system would be done based on the evaluation.
The CIO hasn’t been hired yet. Do you see that as a problem? Why or why not? What role, if any, might the CIO have in the CPOE implementation project?
A chief information officer (CIO) has not been hired yet within Health Matters. It is clear that the information systems department does not have personnel with excellent skills in project management. Therefore, it could be concluded that the previous efforts to implement the CPOE system could have failed because the implementation team lacked guidance from a specialist in information systems analysis and project management. The fact that a CIO has not been hired yet presents a threat to the successful implementation of the proposed CPOE system. This would be due to the fact that the implementation team would lack personnel with adequate technical skills and knowledge in systems analysis and information management. A CIO plays a crucial role in the successful implementation of information systems within many organizations across the world. A CIO would provide crucial guidance to the senior information management team. He or she would report information related issues to the senior management for specific actions.
On the other hand, an organization that does not have a CIO does not have the professional guidance of implementing health information systems. In most cases, the implementation of such systems fails due to a lack of technical leadership. A CIO would be essential in the development and maintenance of information technology organizational structure that would be essential in implementing the proposed system. For example, a CIO would ensure that the right personnel is hired to maintain the implemented system. Another role of a CIO in the CPOE implementation project would be establishing the goals and objectives of the information systems department in line with the requirements of all users within the organization. Therefore, the goals and objectives would be geared towards fulfilling the needs of the system users. A CIO would ensure that the proposed CPOE system meets all the legal requirements set by relevant bodies. This would be important because a system that contravenes legal requirements would be stopped until it fulfills the regulations. Finally, a CIO would be essential in the CPOE system project monitoring and evaluation. Regular system monitoring would be essential in detecting possible threats and preventing them from occurring within the system in the future. Evaluation of the CPOE system would be necessary for determining the usefulness of the implemented CPOE system.
To what extent does the fact that Health Matters is a relatively new health system simplify or complicate the CPOE implementation project? How do other health systems typically implement CPOE or other clinical information system projects of this magnitude?
Health Matters was formed in the recent past by merging the two hospitals, two imaging centers, and nine outpatient clinics. Before the merger, the different systems within Health Matters had different information needs. In addition, they had different leadership which could have contributed to the choices of the information systems they were using. The merger would present challenges in the implementation of the project. For example, the two hospitals within the health system selected different health information systems based on user needs. The relatively new merger presents organizational challenges that would impede the adoption of the proposed CPOE project. Several approaches are adopted by other healthcare institutions to implement information systems of this magnitude. Firstly, organizations ensure that they have hired personnel with experience in implementing large information systems in other organizations.
They might hire the personnel on permanent or temporary terms to oversee the implementation of information systems. Secondly, organizations ensure that thorough training of personnel is conducted. Training on the different applications of information systems is essential because personnel is imparted with the knowledge and skills on the usage of the different components of new systems. It has been shown that proper training increases the chances of successful implementation of information systems within many organizations. Personnel who are not well trained on how to use new information systems make many errors that could make the systems to be ineffective. If there are many errors that are made by personnel associated with the usage of a new information system, it could be an indication that the personnel is not comfortable with the new system. Thirdly, organizations have been able to implement large information systems by dividing the implementation process into several phases. They implement different components of new information systems at different times. Successful implementation of one component would lead to the implementation of another component. This would continue until all the components within the system are implemented. This approach has been shown to be effective because problems encountered when implementing one component are addressed to prevent similar problems in the future. By adopting the approaches, healthcare organizations are able to implement large health information systems with a view to improving patient care outcomes.