Introduction
Transitioning to a new information system for maintaining an EHR database in medicine requires considerable preparation. Among the preliminary stages, testing of the module and training of employees are highlighted to avoid potential errors, the consequences of which can be destructive. The increased responsibility of the specifics of medical institutions is complicated by the confidentiality of data and their peculiarities in the intravenous pump drug library field. Project implementation and maintenance, the third and fourth stages of the life cycle, require a dedicated clinical informatics team capable of planning cultural and functional changes in staff responsibilities, considering requirements and barriers, and identifying test process variables (Hebda et al., 2018). At the same time, these changes affect both the clinical aspect of the functioning of the system and the administrative one.
Discussion
The testing process includes the stages of forming a project team, and it is already necessary to gather all the essential specialists, as mentioned above. Then the project needs to establish communication and the ability to apply timely updates on the identified aspects. In parallel, the evaluation of specific variables is carried out, including the interests of stakeholders, scope, time, cost, human resources, procurement, risk, and quality (Garcia-Dia et al., 2019). Accordingly, the team should include experts who can implement the new system’s functionality, train personnel, and evaluate the enterprise’s success in controlling it. As a result, the importance of choosing partners for project testing becomes critical since this stage is followed by its full integration with its intended use. Since, in this case, the information system adapts to clinical conditions, the level of responsibility is much higher.
Individuals were chosen for this project based on the structure of full coverage of the necessary applied knowledge at the testing stage in order to minimize risks. The following partners were selected for my project, specifically for the part of the intravenous pump drug library: EPIC EHR vendor, IT and engineering department, and pharmacy expert. This team as a whole has the competence to retrain staff and fully implement the project within one institution. However, in this question, the focus will be on the testing aspect of the drug library for the intravenous pump. The EPIC EHR vendor is an essential team member who will know the specifics of the new software, providing other experts with information about the capabilities or limitations of the interface. Accordingly, these IT and engineering departments are the link between the medical knowledge professional and the EPIC software expert. Their role is to adapt the specifics of the drug database for the intravenous pump with the help of deep knowledge of typical algorithms in the new interface. These departments will be able to probe for potential barriers and pitfalls during the transfer of information, providing critical information on how to use it in practice.
Conclusion
Finally, a pharmacology expert has practically no technical competence but can critically evaluate the available data and their structure and monitor the absence of errors that could lead to incorrect request processing or other negative consequences. This specialist will be able to find a compromise between the form of data in the new software, the basics of their processing, and currently available scientific knowledge. As a result, each team member represents a chain of testing of a given product to implement a drug database for an intravenous pump with the lowest risks and the highest quality. Since testing of the project is followed by its integration, the importance of this step with a specific example was described above.
References
Garcia-Dia, M. J., Dizon, J., & DiCarlo, L. (2019). Project integration management and systems development life cycle: System configuration – Testing. Project Management in Nursing Informatics.
Hebda, T., Czar, P., & Mascara, C. (2018). Handbook of informatics for nurses and health care professionals. Pearson Education.