Introduction
Integrating information systems in running and managing institutions comes with organizational and individual benefits. This is the case with Westgate Gate Park Extended Care. This center acutely needs to integrate and institutionalize an information system to provide services in areas such as age care rehabilitation, sub acute core, and general managerial functions. This could be implemented as the Hospital’s Internet. It’s strongly recommended that a forward movement be initiated in proceeding with system analysis, design, and implementation. The management had sanctioned the development of an information system to address the needs of the institution. The center outsources these services to its disadvantage.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to bring to light the justification of moving forward with the analysis, design, development and implementation stages of the hospital information system to enhance patient services delivery, managerial activities, and improved productivity among hospital staff along with other benefits.
Current state Analysis
The hospital located within the city of Peterson provides rehabilitation, transitional care for the aged sub-acute treatment for patients including hydrotherapy, fall clinics, wound management, and ACAS. It consists of a Geneatric Evaluation Management unit that provides specialized quality care services for people experiencing disability following illness or injury and complex medical issues. In addition, the Hospital allied health services, planned activity groups, personal care, care management, case management, and provision of goods and equipment. Currently, the department works within a bi0-psycho-social model and uses the skills of an interdisciplinary team including doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, dieticians and social workers. GEM 1&2 consist of patients admitted for Geriatric Evaluation and management while consists of 32 beds and caters for the needs of rehabilitation patients.
Information is a key component in decision making. Real time information retrieval and access is critical in assisting health staff make timely and appropriate decisions concerning medical cases. Castro and Mylopoulos (2004) see these complex systems as providing timely access to information in a health care environment. According to the case study, Health information services are provided in this hospital by Westgate Park from 8.0- 5.0 pm on week days only. The core support functions of this service are to provide services in filling, storing, and maintenance of records. Retrieval and preparation of records for patients and outpatients, processing of FOI requests, and maintenance of archival records storage services characterize the services provided (Hospital Information System (SA-H.I.S) – ADVANTAGES, 2009). Health records information is provided to all organizational areas, with shared medical records available for patients being treated at the acute and sub acute. In addition, records are requested and retrieved whenever patient/patients attend the health service for treatment and care.
A courier transports client records from one location to the next and schedules are very strict. If a record is requested after the courier has departed for the day, then it will be dispatched the following day. The emergency department is the only one that can request for an emergency file. Its if evident from the above scenario that the hospital has not adapted and integrated an information system in providing medical information services to the medical staff and the organization at large.
In addition, the institution can use the available technical expertise in west gate Park to develop and integrate an information management system to serve the support purpose of filing, storing, and retrieval of patient records. Retrieval for FOI requests, provision and maintenance of archival records storage services can also be provided by the information system as another key advantage (Hospital Information System (SA-H.I.S) – ADVANTAGES, 2009).
Perhaps it’s worthy noting that the benefits of developing an information system in addition to integrating it into an organization out do the benefits that are realized when information system services are outsourced. There are sustained benefits such modeling it in a patient centric manner and medical staff paradigm. Hiring costs are eliminated. To satisfy user and functional requirements, the system can be modeled after the requirements of the hospital thus ensuring optimal returns. This is evident from the fact that resources and technical expertise are readily available to undertake the project by west gate Park.
This will ensure advantages such as promptly and reliably retrieval of information. According to Tachinardi, Marco, Gutierrez, Moura, and Melo, (1994), added benefits are timely and reliable storage and retrieval at any time of the day or night. The management may want to carry out an analysis about their patients; it could inconvenience the management and could limit them to carrying out such research and analysis to the time when the outsourced agency is available. On the contrary, it could be easier to conduct such an analysis when the information system is integrated within the organization. This analysis may be a study of patient demographics in relation to prevalence of a disease, age, and other classifications deemed vital to the study. Research is a vital tool in opening up secret and unexplored domains in the medical field. To conduct such, an information system integrated within the hospital could appropriately serve the purpose. Other benefits that could accrue include accurate administration of finances, excellent monitoring of drugs and their use, distribution of medicine within the hospital, improved inventory levels, and restructuring of the whole system.
In addition, Westgate Park consists of a PAS system that integrates features such as clinic scheduling, waiting list, coding and patient and cancer registration, patient and document tracking, patient billing, referrals, admission, discharge, ward, and bed management. According to the above case study the system is outdated and needs to be overhauled and updated to the modern challenges. The performance and quality of the system has had recommendations made in an ACHS EQuiP program to improve its services and upgrade the software system.
Project Scope
According to Borzekowski (2002) a project scope defines the effort and work needed to develop and implement the system in addition to testing it. This includes the technical expertise needed and their specialization in areas where they could contribute. According to the case study, the technical expertise is readily available from Westgate Park. This team includes a clinical coding team based in the company. The team consists of a coding supervisor who maintains the coding workload while coding of sub acute admissions is rotated among the coding teams undertaken at Westgate Park. In addition to the human resource manager taking direct supervisory roles for all the five health information managers, one coder and four health information clerks are based at this Sub acute facility. This is according to the above case study and (Hospital Software Hospital Information Management Systems Development, 2010).
According to Tachinardi, Marco, Gutierrez, Moura, and Melo (1994), implementing could require management integration of quality issues such as cost savings. In addition to that, the information system could be tailored to make it patient centric, structure and train the users of the system, make it user friendly, ensure system reliability in all aspects of service provisions, modularize it to be scalable, make it robust, ensure low maintenance costs, make it self tuning to avoid the scenario of employing a database administrator, provide cross platform capabilities, and provide abilities for in house training.
The institution should computerize all services offered at the hospital, particularly those related to billing, patient medicines issuing, test information and research, admissions and discharges, and other inventories. Tachinardi et al., (1994) asserts that Salient features should include WAP and WEP services, easy GUI, compressive user security and reliability, medical issues, and communication within the hospital management and staff.
The project duration is likely to take 16 weeks from start to completion, according to critical path analysis information from the system developers.
Feasibility Study
Castro and Mylopoulos (2004) identify the reasons for conducting feasibility studies on a project, the type of feasibility studies to conduct and the benefits of such studies. Castro and Mylopoulos (2004) assert that feasibility studies provide information as to whether alternative solutions are more viable, the criteria for choosing a specific project, and the most preferred alternative. Other feasibility studies conducted included economic, operational, technical, and a cost benefits analysis.
Conclusion
On that basis management can soundly decide on the way forward. According to the case study, West Park is the most preferred organization to proceed with the system analysis and implementation. In addition, the salient features that could address user requirements could easily be incorporated in the system. The system developers have been in operation for over 15 years and have developed other systems that have been used in hospital environments. In addition, the expertise possessed by West gate Park is highly competent.
An alternative to this was Devoir Information (DI) systems developers. This developers, relatively new in the market, have experienced such a rapid growth in market share that the name is synonymous with systems design and development. They are cheaper than West gate and are advantaged by possessing modern tools for software development purposes. The main disadvantage with this software company is that their systems can only be maintained by their own expertise, contains security loop holes, have little experience in developing hospital management systems, and are difficulty to scale.
Therefore it was strongly recommended that West gate be given a nod to proceed with system analysis, design, implementation, and perform other post implementation requirements.
This diagram illustrates an instance of a use case diagram.
References
Borzekowski, R. (2002). Measuring the cost impact of hospital information systems: 1987-1994. Web.
Castro, J. & Mylopoulos, J. (2004). Web.
Hospital Software Hospital Information Management Systems Development. (2010), Web.
Hospital Information System (SA-H.I.S) – ADVANTAGES. (2009). Web.
Tachinardi, U., Marco, A., Gutierrez, Moura, L. & Melo, C. P. (1994). Web.