NURS 6051 Portfolio Assignment: The Role of the Nurse Informaticist in Systems Development and Implementation
Sample Answer for NURS 6051 Portfolio Assignment: The Role of the Nurse Informaticist in Systems Development and Implementation Included After Question
NURS 6051 Portfolio Assignment: The Role of the Nurse Informaticist in Systems Development and Implementation
NURS 6051 Portfolio Assignment The Role of the Nurse Informaticist in Systems Development and Implementation
Nurse leaders have critical roles in implementing new documentation systems as part of the project teams designed to enhance care delivery in their practice environment. The increased demand for data management and security of patient health information and the need to comply with regulatory requirements implore healthcare organizations to allocate more resources for the development and training of IT staff, solutions, and related systems (Kassam & Nagle, 2017). The implementation of these systems needs the inclusion of nurse leaders based on the requirement of frameworks like system development life cycle (SDLC) that offers guidelines on deploying new technology infrastructure like documentation in a healthcare entity (Sipes, 2019). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the critical role that graduate-level- nurse plays in guiding their participation in the implementation team. The role description is based on the stages and tasks of the SDLC framework.
Role Description Based on the SDLC Processes
The primary aspect addressed by nurse informaticists in the development of a documentation system that addresses inherent challenges of nursing. As the majority and the main care providers in the health workforce, they should participate and be involved actively in the development of information systems for organizations to attain successful outcomes (Verma & Gupta, 2017). The system development life cycle (SDLC) describes the systematic problem-solving approach that system developers use to design, troubleshoot, and implement an information technology system in a healthcare organization to enhance efficiency in the workflow. The system contains critical stages with respective tasks that require the inclusion of nurse informaticists at each level (Kassam & Nagle, 2017). These stages include planning and requirement definition, analysis, design of the new system, implementation, and post-implementation.
Planning and Requirement Definition
The planning and requirement definition stage identifies and analyzes the scope of the present system and provides an overview of the proposed new systems and their objectives (Yen et al., 2017). The stage entails considerations on a host of issues like time, benefits, costs, and other components of the new system. The stage also identifies constraints, threats, and security issues of the new system (Wager et al., 2017). The participation of the graduate-level nurse at this initial stage is critical to delivering the clinical nursing perspective to contribute to the development of a responsive, safe, efficient, and effective system (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). The graduate nurse interacts with the team leaders to execute certain tasks that include determining the nature and issues of the present systems and challenges to efficiency and workflow, examination and selection of possible solutions, assimilation of required resources, and identification of project’s timelines and its initiation.
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The nurse identifies the system’s requirements, from technical to clinical and medical components (Magnuson & Dixon, 2020). The nurse leader also helps in system testing and identification of any design flaws in the new system for improvement. The overriding role of the graduate nurse is bringing to the fore the concerns of frontline nurses so that the new system is tailored to meet their needs as super and end-users (Wang et al., 2018). The failure to include the nurse at this stage means that the team will not capture the system needs of frontline nurses as end-users of the new documentation system.
Analysis Phase
The analysis stage helps the implementation team to establish the system’s processes and workflows. A determination to ascertain if the requirements offered are satisfactory and an evaluation of the processes for possible changes or alterations happen at this stage. The analysis stage also defines the requirements and prototype of the new system at this stage (Kassam & Nagle, 2017). The graduate nurse has key roles at this stage of working with the interdisciplinary team to identify the core challenges that the proposed system may pose to nurses as end-users and offer feasible solutions or seek alternatives from the team. The graduate nurse should have an idea of how the system will be deployed and the anticipated challenges to make informed suggestions and recommend alternatives (Magnuson & Dixon, 2020). Through this approach, the team will avoid implementing a system that possesses obvious faults for use in the facility.
Design of the New System
The design stage defines core components of the new system including the databases, applications, system, and user interfaces that will be deployed in the facility. These components represent the functional attributes that will make the system work flawlessly (Magnuson & Dixon, 2020). The team generates reports, prototypes mockups, and screenshots to determine possible hitches that may occur.
The role of the graduate nurse is to scrutinize the developed system to ensure that it has appropriate performance and display for the effective end-user experience. The graduate nurse may have a limited role at this stage because of the technical nature of its attributes (Sipes, 2019). However, the nurse can still make recommendations and suggest operational mechanisms to enhance the functionality of the system. The graduate nurse ensures that the system design is safer and user-friendly for nurses. The nurse should establish the functionality of the system to meet nurses’ needs as end-users.
Implementation
The implementation entails setting up the program and ensuring that it works based on the input from different stakeholders. The stage entails transferring data and components from the current system to the new one, system’s installation, and roll out for use by end-users (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2018). The graduate nurse works in collaboration with the interdisciplinary team to undertake performance evaluation and identify opportunities for redesigning the system. The graduate nurse educates and trains other nurses and staff members on the operationalization of the novel system.
Post-Implementation Support
The stage emphasizes system maintenance and support to the users and administrators as an ongoing or continuous process. Maintenance and support ensure that the system functions without any critical hitches or issues. As end-users, nurses can fine-tune the system by adding new capabilities to improve performance (Magnuson & Dixon, 2020). The graduate nurse’s role is to document all issues experiences and share them with the system’s developers and the management for effective reviews, interventions, and possible systems upgrades.
Conclusion
The paper demonstrates that a graduate nurse acting as a leader on the system implementation team plays a critical role in the system development life cycle. The essay shows that at each stage, the nurse leader ensures that all concerns and considerations which may impact the staff’s ability to deploy the system are addressed through the interdisciplinary team. The graduate nurse plays a core role in ensuring that the developed documentation system meets nurses’ and organizational needs.
References
Kassam, I., & Nagle, L. (2017). Informatics competencies for nurse leaders: protocol for a
scoping review. BMJ Open, 7(12). doi:10.1136/BMJ open-2017-018855
Magnuson, J. A., & Dixon, B. E. (Eds.). (2020). Public health informatics and information
systems. Springer Nature.
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2018). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge
(4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Sipes, C. (2019). Nursing Informatics: Project Management. Application of Nursing Informatics:
Competencies, Skills, and Decision-Making, 79.
Verma, M. P., & Gupta, D. S. (2017). Software Development for Nursing: Role of Nursing
Informatics. International Journal of Nursing Education and Research, 5(2) 203-207.
doi:10.5958/2454-2660.2017.00044.8
Wager, K. A., Lee, F. W., & Glaser, J. P. (2017). Health care information systems: a practical
approach for health care management. John Wiley & Sons.
Wang, J., Gephart, S. M., Mallow, J., & Bakken, S. (2019). Models of collaboration and
dissemination for nursing informatics innovations in the 21st century. Nursing Outlook, 67(4), 419-432. DOI: 10.1016/j.outlook.2019.02.003.
Yen, P. Y., Phillips, A., Kennedy, M. K., & Collins, S. (2017). Nursing informatics competency
assessment for the nurse leader: instrument refinement, validation, and psychometric analysis. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 47(5), 271-277. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000000478
A Sample Answer for The Assignment: NURS 6051 Portfolio Assignment: The Role of the Nurse Informaticist in Systems Development and Implementation
Title: NURS 6051 Portfolio Assignment: The Role of the Nurse Informaticist in Systems Development and Implementation
The adoption of health information technology (HIT) in healthcare facilities often goes through a process to facilitate systems that solve identified problems and can be continuously updated through its life cycle. The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is one such process and it has five steps namely planning, design, implementation, maintenance, and evaluation. These steps contribute to the development of a healthy HIT system. However, Dwivedi (2022), noted that the input of all the stakeholders of the project is essential to design a system that will meet their needs. From a nursing context, the adoption of HIT in healthcare organizations requires the input of nurses who are more often than not the major users of such technologies. Furthermore, nurses are at the forefront of healthcare. Therefore, neglecting their insights could lead to the purchase of a HIT that does not tackle the issue at hand or is inefficient.
The planning and design steps are important in the SDLC process because in those stages, the development team outlines the issues that require attention, agree on the requirements for the HIT, and then proceeds to design a system that will hopefully solve all the identified issues. The input of nursing professionals in these stages will help the team identify all the crucial problems and requirements that cannot be skipped. Therefore, without nursing input, the development team can fail to identify or plan for key issues. Furthermore, they may design systems that are not user-friendly or do not have the necessary attributes.
Implementation and Maintenance
These steps are the logical next steps after designing a HIT system. Implementation involves deploying the designed system to the place where it is needed. As with everything new, health workers will likely be clueless about how to operate the new system. Therefore, training and sensitization are needed to encourage adoption. When the system is up and running, little adjustments and repairs are part of the maintenance activities required to keep it functional and correct any discovered error. As the core users of most HIT technologies, not involving nurses in the implementation stage will slow down the rate of adoption and lead to inefficiencies in the maintenance of the system due to insufficient information (Risling, 2017).
Evaluation
Evaluation is the final step of SDLC. It is an equally important step because continuous assessment is the basis of quality improvement. To design better systems in the future or continuously improve on the current one, the system’s performance must be evaluated (Wells et al., 2018). Therefore, nurses as well as other stakeholders must be consulted to get a comprehensive assessment of the system’s performance.
In my role as a nurse, I have yet to have an opportunity to represent nurses in the development team for the adoption of new HIT. However, nurse leaders in the facility have been availed of the opportunity and made a good impact by recommending features that help smoothen the nursing processes without negatively affecting patient outcomes. Nursing input allows the design team create a system that meets the needs of nurses and patients alike. As a result, both organizational and patient outcomes are improved.
References
Dwivedi, N., Katiyar, D., & Goel, G. (2022). A Comparative Study of Various Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Models. International Journal of Research in Engineering, Science and Management, 5(3), 141-144. https://journals.resaim.com/ijresm/article/view/1881
Risling, T. (2017). Educating the nurses of 2025: Technology trends of the next decade. Nurse education in practice, 22(1), 89-92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2016.12.007
Wells, S., Tamir, O., Gray, J., Naidoo, D., Bekhit, M., & Goldmann, D. (2018). Are quality improvement collaboratives effective? A systematic review. BMJ quality & safety, 27(3), 226-240. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjqs-2017-006926
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NURS 6051 Week 1 Assignment Knowledge Continuum
Assume you are a nurse manager on a unit where a new nursing documentation system is to be implemented. You want to ensure that the system will be usable and acceptable for the nurses impacted. You realize a nurse leader must be on the implementation team.
To Prepare:
- Review the steps of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and reflect on the scenario presented.
- Consider the benefits and challenges associated with involving a nurse leader on an implementation team for health information technology.
The Assignment: (2-3 pages)
In preparation of filling this role, develop a 2- to 3-page role description for a graduate-level nurse to guide his/her participation on the implementation team. The role description should be based on the SDLC stages and tasks and should clearly define how this individual will participate in and impact each of the following steps:
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Planning and requirements definition
Analysis
Design of the new system
Implementation
Post-implementation support
The success of health organizations in the modern world largely relies on the use of different healthNURS 6051 Portfolio Assignment: The Role of the Nurse Informaticist in Systems Development and Implementation information technologies. Health technologies enable them to achieve outcomes such as efficiency, safety, and quality. Health organizations should prioritize the involvement of its employees, including nurses in the assessment, planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluating the use of health technologies in the provision of patient care services. Therefore, this paper examines the consequences of a healthcare organization not involving nurses in each stage of SDLC when purchasing a new health information technology system and my organizational experience.
Consequences
System development life cycle (SDLC) is a process that organizations utilize when adopting technologies
for service provision to their populations. It comprises steps that include analysis, design, implementation, evaluation, and maintenance. Nurses should be actively involved in each of these steps in purchasing and implementing new systems in healthcare. Failure to involve them results in unwanted outcomes in an organization. For example, the analysis phase in SDLC focuses on the need for the healthcare system in an organization. Failure to involve nurses would result in the adoption of a system that does not address the organization and stakeholders’ needs (Kutney-Lee et al., 2019; Vest et al., 2019). The system may not address nurses’ needs due to the lack of inclusion of their needs that are essential for system function.
Implementation phase in SDLC focuses on the use of the system in the provision of patient care. Nurses are largely involved in the use of most healthcare systems in the patient care process. Interventions such as training them, coaching, and mentorship are crucial for the successful use of the system. As a result, inadequate involvement of the nurses in this step will result in resistance to change, system underutilization, and resource wastage. Evaluation and maintenance stages in SDLC focus on assessing if the system achieved its desired outcomes and how to ensure its sustainability. Nurses provide accurate subjective and objective data on system efficiency and needs and recommendations to enhance its performance (Schenk et al., 2018). Failing to involve nurses in these steps would result in biased evaluation data and ineffective strategies used to ensure system sustainability in the organization.
Reflection
I have been involved in the adoption of new health information technology in my organization. My involvement was in all the stages of SDLC, including assessment, implementation, evaluation, and maintenance. I participated in activities that include organizational needs assessment, provider training, system adoption, coaching system users, and obtaining evaluation data from them. The process relied on interdisciplinary collaboration.
My involvement had immense benefits to the organization. First, it ensured the adoption of a system that addressed the actual needs of the organization. Needs analysis identified the gaps the system needed to address for the organization’s success. The involvement also resulted in resource efficiency. There were minimal resources wastages since the adopted system aligned with the organization and stakeholders’ needs. Lastly, the involvement led to stakeholder empowerment and project sustainability. The use of interventions such as training, active involvement, coaching, and mentorship contributed to competency development and empowerment of the stakeholders to be involved in strategies to enhance system efficiency and outcomes (Brown et al., 2020; Kang et al., 2019).
Conclusion
In summary, nurses should be involved in the purchase and implementation of new systems in their organizations. They should be proactively involved in all the SDLC stages. The benefits include system sustainability, resource efficiency, and the selection of a system that addresses the actual needs of an organization. I have been involved in the selection and implementation of a system in my organization. The involvement increased my understanding of the importance of nurses’ involvement in system adoption in healthcare.
References
Brown, J., Pope, N., Bosco, A. M., Mason, J., & Morgan, A. (2020). Issues affecting nurses’ capability to use digital technology at work: An integrative review. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 29(15–16), 2801–2819. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocn.15321
Kang, S., Baek, H., Jung, E., Hwang, H., & Yoo, S. (2019). Survey on the demand for adoption of Internet of Things (IoT)-based services in hospitals: Investigation of nurses’ perception in a tertiary university hospital. Applied Nursing Research, 47, 18–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnr.2019.03.005
Kutney-Lee, A., Sloane, D. M., Bowles, K. H., Burns, L. R., & Aiken, L. H. (2019). Electronic Health Record Adoption and Nurse Reports of Usability and Quality of Care: The Role of Work Environment. Applied Clinical Informatics, 10(1), 129–139. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0039-1678551
Schenk, E., Schleyer, R., Jones, C. R., Fincham, S., Daratha, K. B., & Monsen, K. A. (2018). Impact of Adoption of a Comprehensive Electronic Health Record on Nursing Work and Caring Efficacy. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 36(7), 331. https://doi.org/10.1097/CIN.0000000000000441
Vest, J. R., Jung, H.-Y., Wiley, K., Kooreman, H., Pettit, L., & Unruh, M. A. (2019). Adoption of Health Information Technology Among US Nursing Facilities. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 20(8), 995-1000.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2018.11.002
Roles of Nurse Informaticists
The incontestable role of nursing informatics is to get advanced information and knowledge on nursing to improve the health of individuals, families, and society. Health care providers conclude possible decisions about the kind of health to be provided through the authority of nursing informatics. Nursing informatics include healthcare apps, electronic medical records (EMRs) among others. Significantly, the tracking ability of nursing staff, progress and services helps in identifying issues that can be corrected to improve healthcare systems. The role of nurse informaticist is helpful in planning, analysis, designing new systems, implementations, and post-implementation support.
Informaticists contribute to planning nursing sectors by providing advanced nursing practices and non-stop workflows. According to (Serra, et al, 2020), informatics aims to provide patients with the best results and to promote patient care all over. In consequence, workflows, design processes, and new treatment plans and testing are developed. Secondly, informaticists come up with improved clinical strategies, agreements, and procedures among others. For instance, the performance of a nursing organization can be determined by the outcome of patients. According to (Serra, et al, 2020) a good-performing organization should have positive feedback from the patients. With the data used to know the outcome of the patient, it becomes easy to identify areas that need to be corrected. Additionally, it helps the organization in finding suitable ways for improving the healthcare system. Thirdly, informaticist planning contributes in reduced health error cases. For instance, the patient’s communication and information to the health organization is used by the informaticist to provide recommendations to avoid errors. Fourthly, there is continuity of healthcare due to the availability of many healthcare providers. For instance, communication and interaction between the department, healthcare providers, and patients remain consistent to provide continuity of healthcare.
Nursing informaticist plays a major role in health analysis. For instance, when improving clinical policies, protocols, processes, and procedures, data analysis is taken to measure the performance of the protocol. As a result, these analyses are used to make changes that improve healthcare. Secondly, the analysis assists in establishing options that are patients based when straightening best nursing practices and work continuity. Thirdly, informaticists use analysis to provide training for healthcare providers. For instance, they use data to identify some of the indigenous health issues and seek the best ways of solving them. Fourth, analysis help in identifying new testing devices. In particular, nursing informaticists are positioned to understand the new Internet of Things (IoT) and give recommendations on its record, use, and accessibility. As a result, healthcare providers are informed on the diagnostics, treatment plans, and patient outcomes from the use of new devices (Booth, et.al 2021). Furthermore, the access to unlimited data gives the informaticists role of data supervision and accuracy in accordance of the organizational support in wide data strategy.
Designing Electro- Phrenic Respiration(EPR) requires the knowledge of informaticists and some technological skills. For instance, informaticists provide efficient information flow in decision-making and specific information on patients. Additionally, nursing informaticists produce reports and prototypes among others to identify factors that can determine occurrences of errors as stated by (Booth, et al, 2021). Informaticists can also supervise the results of the devices to prevent inappropriate results as expected by the organization. Informaticists’ role in implementation involves tracking of health providers’ familiarity and outcome in the system.
Further, the informaticist provides correct information during implementation by checking coding schemes. According to (Booth, et al, 2021), implementation period requires informaticists to organize training sessions with the health providers to achieve positive transitional implementation in the system. Post implementation support mainly involve testing and maintenance. At this stage, an informaticist is required to the health requirement given by the system are correct analysis. Additionally, informaticist organize training with nurses to familiarize them with the new system. As expected, the informaticist is able to tell the performance of the system into the organization and where changes need to be done.
Conclusion
Nursing informaticists’ main role is to provide or deliver positive health to the patients. Additionally, the information provided by the informaticists is accurate since they involve the use of technology. With the existence of nurse informaticists, health care is efficient and easily accessible. Data management, processing, and organization are practiced to keep electronic health records through the help of nursing informaticists. Finally, nursing informatics contributes to the advanced healthcare system by providing software tools for healthcare providers to use.
References
Booth, R., Strudwick, G., McMurray, J., Chan, R., Cotton, K., & Cooke, S. (2021). The Future of Nursing Informatics in a Digitally-Enabled World. In Introduction to Nursing Informatics (pp. 395-417). Springer, Cham.
da Silva, R., Baptista, A., Serra, R. L., & Magalhães, D. S. (2020). Mobile application for the evaluation and planning of nursing workload in the intensive care unit. International journal of medical informatics, 137, 104120.
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The systems development life cycle (SDLC) is a conceptual model employed in project management. It outlines the various steps needed to develop a project from conception to the operation stage and maintain it. SDLC also contains policies and procedures for developing or changing systems throughout their project’s phases (Kyeremeh, 2019). The purpose of this paper is to explain a graduate nurse’s role in the implementation team for a health information technology.
Planning and Requirements Definition
The stage involves defining the problem and scope of the existing health IT systems and outlining the objectives for the proposed new IT system. The graduate nurse’s role in this stage will include taking a general look at the new health IT and helping the team determine its objectives (Kyeremeh, 2019). The nurse will assess the feasibility of the IT system and participate in developing the schedule for its implementation. In addition, the nurse will analyze the potential threats and limitations of the IT system and how it can be integrated into the overall organization system.
Analysis
The analysis phase entails obtaining information about the proposed system and analyzing and validating this information. It also includes identifying the requirements and archetypes for the new system. The graduate nurse will help the implementation team in evaluating the information needs of end-users of the system and optimizing the goal of the health IT system. Furthermore, the graduate nurse will be involved in examining alternatives to the proposed IT system and prioritizing the requirements for the new system. The nurse will take part in developing a Software Requirement Specification document specifying the hardware, software, network, and functional requirements of the health IT system (Kyeremeh, 2019). The nurse will ensure the document outlines the health system’s general nature and identifies the design model’s architecturally essential parts.
Design of the new system
The design of the proposed health IT system entails its general outline, databases, network, and system and user interfaces. The implementation team will transform the Software Requirement Specification document into a valid structure. The structure should have comprehensive and complete specifications that the team can put into action in a programming language (Kramer, 2018). The team will also create a system design document for subsequent phases. The nurse will create a training plan that will be used to train healthcare providers in the organization on how to use the new health IT system. The graduate-level nurse will also examine the proposed IT system design to ensure that it meets the requirements outlined in the Software Requirement Specification document.
Implementation
The implementation team will be tasked with incorporating the new health IT system into the organization’s workflow processes and putting it into action (Kramer, 2018). The graduate nurse will help the team prepare a test report for the system that includes system implementation tasks. Besides, the nurse will be involved in integrating the new health IT system into the hospital environment and installing it.
Post-implementation support
Maintenance and support are needed for a longer period for large health IT systems compared to smaller systems. The nurse in this stage will be tasked with reporting challenges in the system to the developer (Kyeremeh, 2019). Besides, the nurse will address minor hitches in the system after implementation.
NURS 6051 Portfolio Assignment: The Role of the Nurse Informaticist in Systems Development and Implementation Conclusion
The SDLC defines the steps needed to plan and implement a project from conception to maintenance. The graduate nurse will impact the implementation team by helping to assess the system’s feasibility and developing the implementation schedule. Besides, the nurse will play a key role in creating a system contingency, maintenance, operation, and training plan.,
References
Kramer, M. (2018). Best practices in systems development lifecycle: An analysis based on the waterfall model. Review of Business & Finance Studies, 9(1), 77-84.
Kyeremeh, K. (2019). Overview of System Development Life Cycle Models. Available at SSRN 3448536.http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3448536
For Health Information Technology to be effectively implemented, the Systems Development Life Cycle must be adhered to. The essential phases of SDLC include planning, analysis, design, implementation, and maintenance. To get the desired result, it is crucial to carry out each of these stages (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). Nurses’ contributions are crucial to the success of new health information systems, which should be developed with a focus on patient care and outcomes (Stanley, 2017). Therefore, it may be very detrimental to not include nurses in the process or to ignore their input when introducing new technologies. This means that the nurses will be uninformed of any facts regarding the new system prior to its introduction and will only have a little time to get familiar with its functioning.
In addition, some nurses will be unable to attend training on how to use the new system, which will reduce their capacity and slow down the workflow. Some of them will almost certainly make errors. Therefore, the system’s advantages would be lost, and the system would be considered a failure. Management should include nurses in all aspects of the system development life cycle (SDLC), from planning to maintenance, for a successful implementation (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). For instance, the nurse would have additional contributions that may help efficient planning if involved in the planning phase of a project.
During the development and deployment of the Epic system in my healthcare organization, the leadership of the organization included all nurses at each step of the SDLC. Inclusivity proven to be a worthwhile approach since the developers were able to catch communication and design faults that might reduce the system’s efficiency and performance from nurses’ input. Based on the input, they investigated redesigning procedures in some of the Units to be more equivalent to the charting requirements. It is unarguable that the company would have suffered higher operating expenditures if such deficiencies had not been identified immediately and promptly.
Nurses are major stakeholders in system implementation in healthcare and must therefore be engaged for effective system deployment (Stanley, 2017). Creating a successful health information system that focuses on patient care and results requires extensive participation from nurses, since they provide critical contributions to the creation of the new system (Alotaibi & Federico, 2017). As a result, a lack of nurse engagement in the process, as well as the exclusion of nurse contributions while establishing systems, might have serious effects.
The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is “a way to deliver efficient and effective information systems that fit with the strategic business plan, which stems from the mission, of the organization” (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022, p. 191). It involves understanding the problem and the potential solution, making a plan, putting the plan into action, evaluating its effectiveness, and finally, maintaining the system. Health organizations must consider the expertise of nurses at every step in this cycle. One of the systems that the health organization I work for has implemented is an online incident reporting platform. The prior system was paper-based and inconvenient, so it was a welcome change to go online.
When an organization considers a change in how tasks are completed, it is essential to evaluate the current workflow and its potential changes. Workflow is “the sequence of physical and mental tasks performed by various people within and between work environments” (AHRQ, n.d.). With the identification of the problem of needing a more streamlined approach for incident reporting and coming up with possible solutions, the organization must include the input of the people who will be utilizing the new proposed system the most, which are the front-line nurses working the floor. Nurses are usually the most frequent contact point with patients, so they will be the ones to notice these events. The expectation is that events get reported when something reaches the patient and causes harm, as well as when it comes to them but doesn’t cause harm. “Near-miss” events are also reported, as they can potentially negatively affect patients, visitors, or staff. In the planning process, nurses should be allowed to voice their opinions on the current system and give ideas on how the process could be more accessible.
Things to consider are that the paper forms may take a long time to fill out, they might get lost in the shuffle of much paperwork during a shift, and the storage and maintenance of these records by management may be inconvenient and space-consuming. Once a plan is determined, in this case, transitioning to a computer-based system, the organization must decide how to implement this system. Companies vet various methods for their cost-to-value ratio before the technology is selected. Nurses can provide insights into which plans incorporate the most vital aspects of event reporting that are part of the paper system or are not a part of it but should be. Once the organization decides on a platform, nurses can lend their knowledge to the implementation process. They can be champions of the new process and have a positive attitude about the change and its benefits. Since nurses will likely use the platform most frequently, they can teach others how to use it properly and become super users for their departments.
After the new event reporting system has been in place for a few months, nurses can give their thoughts on how successful or unsuccessful the initiation was and suggest improvements. Perhaps unnecessary items in the documentation affect the time needed to submit a report, which would be the opposite of the intended goal of time conservation compared to the paper system. Once the vendor addresses the issues, the computer reporting system will require maintenance and periodic upgrades. The nurses can again offer insights into which improvements or alterations will meet the changing needs of the department and the organization.
A similar change in event reporting occurred at a facility in China. As a result of changing from a paper-based to an online system, there was “a dramatic increase in the number of reported adverse events by nursing staff due to more accurate data now available” (Cao & Ball, 2017, p. 1351). When nurses are involved in the steps of the SDLC, they will feel empowered, like they are a vital part of the new program. If systems change without the input of nurses, the system could negatively impact their daily workflow. If nurses are not part of the development of new programs, they could feel like their supervisors and administrators don’t care about how these changes affect them. These feelings could lead to a decrease in morale, affecting the patient experience. I was not involved in the SDLC for the event reporting process in my company. I have never been included in one in the 12 years I have worked there. I feel like the healthcare organization I work for makes changes to workflow based on the cost to the company rather than the benefit to the people who use it. Solle et al. (2020) determined that “involving various stakeholders in the process and creating a framework by which changes to a workflow could be evaluated and disseminated” (p. S369) yields successful results. In the future, I hope my company will allow nurses to contribute more to the SDLC.
The Role of Nurse Informaticist in Systems Development and Implementation
Health information technologies play a crucial role in the delivery of healthcare services in the modern world. Health organizations employ health information technologies to ensure care outcomes such as safety, quality, and efficiency in the care process. The development and selection of new informatics systems should be collaborative in healthcare. Nurse informaticists should be involved to ensure the adoption of a technology that aligns with the actual needs of an organization. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the roles of a graduate-level nurse in participation on the implementation of a new documentation system. The analysis relies on the steps of the system development life cycle (SDLC).
Planning and Requirements Definition
The first stage in the adoption of the new system is planning and requirements definition. The new graduate nurse is part of the team that is involved in ensuring that the adopted system aligns with the needs of the organization. The nurse also participates in the acquisition of data that will inform the basic structure of the new system. They use the data to develop the requirements that the system must meet as a way of achieving the set organizational outcomes (Hersh, 2022). The graduate level nurse also provides inputs to in the decision-making to ensure the adoption of evidence-based strategies in the system adoption process.
Analysis
Analysis is the second step in the SLDLC cycle. The step entails ensuring the system specifications meet the needs and expectations of the system users. The graduate nurse ensures that the system meets the prioritized needs of the nurses who will utilize it for the provision of patient care services. The system must also ensure the protection of data integrity by eliminating the potentials of unauthorized data access by third parties. The graduate-level nurse also ensures the system addresses the needs of patients (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2021). It should be easy to use for them to increase its utilization to achieve their needs.
The graduate-level nurse also determines the impact of the new system on the organization in the analysis phase. This includes evaluating its impact on efficiency, staff motivation, and workload. The information from the analysis informs the improvement strategies that must be considered in the system development process. The nurse also assesses the impact of the new system on the organization’s workflow (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2021). The nurse determines its effect on the existing systems and processes and recommends system adjustments to enhance efficiency in the organization.
Design of the New System
System design is the third step in the SDLC. The graduate level nurse plays crucial roles in this phase. The nurse collaborates with system developers in the actualization of the system components. The nurse ensures that the system is developed according to its plan. The nurse also performs risk assessment with the aim of identifying any issues in the system development process. The nurse also ensures that the system being developed is per the set requirements to address the identified organizational issues (Hübner et al., 2019; Strudwick et al., 2019). The outcomes achieved in the design phase should reflect the anticipated system outcomes.
Implementation
Implementation is the fourth step in the SDLC process. It is characterized by the actual system use in the organization. The graduate-level nurse plays crucial roles in this stage. One of the roles for the graduate level nurse is coordinating implementation activities. This includes ensuring each of the team roles are implemented as per the plan. The nurse also leads the adoption process by guiding nurses and other healthcare providers in the system adoption process. The other nurse’s role is mapping out the system workflow and translating it into clinical practice.
The nurse also ensures the systematic implementation of the system elements to eliminate potential issues that may arise in this phase. Systematic implementation will prevent any invalidation or conflicts with the existing systems in the organization. The other nurse’s role is obtaining feedback from the system users about their experiences and perceptions towards it(Hersh, 2022; Kinnunen et al., 2019). The information helps in developing improvement strategies that will drive the desired excellence in system use by the healthcare providers.
Post-Implementation Support
Post-implementation support must be provided to ensure sustained use of the new system in the organization. The graduate-level nurse provides post-implementation support in the forms such as coaching and mentorship to the nurses and other healthcare providers. The nurse ensures the training of new healthcare providers to promote their competency development in the use of the new system. The other form of post-implementation support is seeking feedback and incorporating it into continuous system improvements (Khezri&Abdekhoda, 2019). Obtaining feedback enables the graduate nurse and the team develop effective and efficient strategies to enhance system performance in delivering the desired outcomes in the organization.
Conclusion
The graduate-level nurse plays crucial roles in the adoption of the new system. The roles can be seen in all the stages of system development cycle. Health organizations must ensure the involvement of nurses in system development for sustainable change in the organization. Post-implementation support must be offered to ensure continuous improvements in the use of the system.
References
Hersh, W. (2022). Health Informatics: Practical Guide. Lulu Press, Inc.
Hübner, U., Thyea, J., Shaw, T., Elias, B., Egbert, N., Saranto, K., Babitsch, B., Procter, P., & Ball, M. (2019). Towards the TIGER International Framework for Recommendations of Core Competencies in Health Informatics 2.0: Extending the Scope and the Roles (L. Ohno-Machado & B. Séroussi, Eds.; pp. 1218–1222). IOS Press. https://doi.org/10.3233/SHTI190420
Khezri, H., &Abdekhoda, M. (2019). Assessing nurses’ informatics competency and identifying its related factors. Journal of Research in Nursing, 24(7), 529–538. https://doi.org/10.1177/1744987119839453
Kinnunen, U.-M., Heponiemi, T., Rajalahti, E., Ahonen, O., Korhonen, T., &Hyppönen, H. (2019). Factors Related to Health Informatics Competencies for Nurses—Results of a National Electronic Health Record Survey. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 37(8), 420. https://doi.org/10.1097/CIN.0000000000000511
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. (2021). Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Strudwick, G., Nagle, L., Kassam, I., Pahwa, M., & Sequeira, L. (2019). Informatics Competencies for Nurse Leaders: A Scoping Review. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 49(6), 323. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000000760
I appreciate the thoroughness of your post. The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a method for planning and executing the introduction of new technological systems. It’s important to keep everyone on the team in the loop at all times during this process. According to McGonigle and Mastrian (2017), a company’s mission is the driving force behind every good business plan. When evaluating a business strategy and potential enhancements, it’s important for all team members to contribute their unique perspectives and knowledge. It is typical for nurses to have knowledge of technical procedures that the other team members do not. Since implementing the program a few years ago, we have uncovered various areas that may have been improved upon, and we have concluded that our organization should have included nursing in the development review of our electronic medical record. I agree with you about EPIC, collaboration between clinical professionals and developers during its development was crucial to the system’s ultimate success. Increased productivity and better patient care are the results of the system’s features and functionality reflecting the needs of the healthcare professionals who use it on a regular basis.
Since nurses would make up the bulk of future EHR users, it is important that these stakeholders are involved in the process from the beginning. When nurses aren’t consulted beforehand, I’ve found that they’re less likely to embrace new methods and equipment. According to McKay & Vanaskie (2018), when nurses aren’t consulted during the design and rollout of a new HIT system, staff resistance and launch delays are likely results as nurses are in a unique position to recognize what information is most useful to patients and what can be left out (McKay & Vanaskie, 2018).
References
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.) Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
McKay, C., & Vanaskie, K. (2018). Partnering for success: The role of the nurse leader in health information technology implementation for coordination of care. Nurse Leader,16(6),385-388. https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2018.07.012
The Inclusion of Nurses in the Systems Development Life Cycle
Modern work settings are increasingly witnessing the adoption of varied policies and procedures to realign the work processes for easier service and product delivery. The introduction of the systems development life cycle (SDLC) in the healthcare setting is an effort to align the modern workplace to better and safe practices while incorporating learned processes over the years (Kushniruk & Borycki, 2022; McMurtrey, 2013). SLDC is a conceptual framework characterized by policies and procedures that alter systems directly used in service delivery (Dixon et al., 2013). As Kushniruk & Borycki (2022) observe, the objective of the SDLC lies in incorporating new insights to guarantee a safer working environment while eliminating redundant practices that could hamper service delivery. Although the SDLC is highly stakeholder dependent, the participation of the nurses has a profound effect on its advancement owing to their valuable knowledge, experience, and a patient-centered perspective on the development process, ensuring user-friendliness to address healthcare providers and patient’s needs, ultimately this leads to greater satisfaction among the nursing staff and improved patient outcomes.
Experience in undertaking one’s role often has a huge influence on determining the success of a project. In the healthcare setting, nurses are uniquely positioned to participate directly in the delivery of services by interacting with the patients much more than any other stakeholders (Nilsen et al., 2020). Often, their day-to-day interactions are characterized by addressing the service delivery challenges and complementing their role by engaging with the providers on the best way such services can be delivered (Cui et al., 2020; McMurtrey, 2013). This constant strike of balance is instrumental to the knowledge accumulated in the entire healthcare fraternity. It builds insights on redesigning existing systems to make work easier and more fruitful for all the stakeholders involved.
The process of SDLC involves anticipating the essential steps instrumental in guaranteeing the successful adoption of the implemented systems. While the management may have a huge influence in determining the perception of whether the project will be successful, the foot soldiers, such as nurses directly engaged in the service delivery process, are integral to this process since they are the conduit to providing feedback and input, which can be tailored to make a system more effective. For instance, their understanding of the ER room is unparalleled and could be instrumental to achieving higher satisfaction. In literature, as Nilsen et al. (2020) and Kushniruk & Borycki (2022) noted, the participation of nurses has been attributed to influence the acceptance of the projects since the experiences therein are tailored to the needs of the circumstance to making the experience much more fulfilling. Ultimately, such engagement guarantees SLDLC’s success.
Nurses also have a huge influence in shaping the dynamics of the SDLC, guided by their deep understanding of the care process. Beyond the standard set practice, nurses have to interact with intercultural experiences, which constantly shift depending on the patients they attend (Kaihlanen et al., 2019; Nilsen et al., 2020). For instance, engaging the patients presents different ideas instrumental to building a system that demonstrates the humanity of the medical profession. as Mitchell (2008) illustrates, nurses are poised to identify potential safety hazards and suggest ways to eliminate them by providing feedback on how the system can be used to improve patient care. In addition, being frontline workers, nurses are the best bet for implementing such a system, highlighting the need for their participation.
SDLC is an important part of healthcare owing to its ability to document and guide the profession on areas of improvement needing the stakeholder’s attention. Though guided by professional narratives, its development increasingly demands nurses’ attention owing to their accumulated experience and insights into care-driven perspectives and ensuring user-friendliness to address healthcare providers and patients’ needs. The success of the SDLC is also hinged on engaging these nurses since they have to implement a majority of the stated ideologies.
Institutions come up with decisions all the time, and it is important when nurses are recognized to have an input in the very work system that affects the work they do. This is the same when institutions and healthcare companies decide to invest in a technological system that will affect nurses’ daily work routine. It is important to assemble the right team during the development of SDLC (McGonigle &Mastrian, 2022). System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is a way for organizations to develop effective information systems and strategies that fit the company’s needs and help it grow in the cause of the cycle of the program (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). A good SDLC system should be able to adapt to changes that arise along the way and during the system’s implementation.
The planning stage is the first, which is important for the team prior to starting an SDLC. This stage is to understand the needs of the facility and the reasons for the need of the system. The cost involved in starting the system, the benefit and impact as well as the gains to be earned as a company or institution after its implementation (Restrepo et al. 2021). In this stage it is important to involve the nursing team, this will lay the foundation for developing a rapport and trust with the team as the planning process begins. It will send a message of inclusion enabling the change to be well received. This is also called the “buying-in” period which ensures individuals believe in and actively support interventions or the systems being introduced (Grebing et al. 2023).
The second stage is the specification and analysis of the system to be proposed. This is the development stage of the concept of the system being introduced. It establishes who will be in direct use of the system and the effects it will have on the institution. It answers the question of when and where the system will be used. In this case if the program is geared toward the nursing team it enables them to have knowledge of the program and when usage will start due to communication and inclusion prior to implementation.
The design stage is the third, this is where the SDLC team knows exactly how the system will operate. Beginning with the choice of database that will best fit the program, how the program will operate with regards to hardware and networking. It is important for the team to know these things and make accommodations that will allow for smooth adaptability.
Implementation stage is where the system is created with functionality clearly defined during the design stage. According to AHRQ (n.d.) “a key to successful implementation of health information technology is to recognize its impact on clinical and administrative workflow once implemented”. Therefore, for implementation to be smooth the architect of the system should have included every aspect of the institution to ensure harmony during the implementation phase.
The integration stage confirms communication between technology and electronics. Quality control phase ensures that the system meets the needs described in the planning stage, the security of the final system is ensured, and usability tested. In the end the program is perfected by establishing a maintenance pathway where corrective, preventive, adaptive and perfective maintenance are put in place to ensure the program is running and will continue to run with the changing technology. Maintenance is the final stage and an important aspect of the process to ensure continuous adaptability, and that the systems are being fixed in a timely manner and updated appropriately for effective use. Nursing equipment and systems for daily care of patients require continuous maintenance to meet facility and state compliance requirements. Therefore, this stage is very important to ensure facility wide compliance to prevent defaults and penalization of the organization in the future.
I have not had the chance to be included in the selection or planning of any technological programs at work, but I have had the opportunity to implement most of the new technology systems. I am a Rehab nurse leader and as a result I ensure that documentation by staff is held up to the standards of the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare. Without which reimbursement will be stalled and could even result in loss of reimbursement. There is a Quality Reporting Program (QRP) which is required to be completed prior to a patient’s discharge which is then submitted through the Minimum Data set (MDS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Medicare fee-for-service claims. During the implementation process, the Information technologist should have had a learning session at least with the nursing leaders but this did not happen. Therefore, there seem to be defaults in documentation because of human behaviors adapting to change. Employees either omit documentation of the QRP section or documentation remains unsatisfactory upon review of patient chart post discharge. This is why nursing inclusion in the development of systems and throughout the implementation is important for the success of the system.
This is such an informative post. I agree with you that data collection is crucial because it leads to the correct diagnosis and treatment thus it improves patient safety and patient health tremendously. Am glad that your organization is finally making the transition to Electronic Health Records (EHR). It is easier for providers to coordinate care and services by use of EHR. Medication error has been a problem in the healthcare industry, and I agree that the use of barcoded wristbands can help reduce them. Inadequate or absent medication reconciliation poses a considerable risk of medication inconsistencies, mistakes, and adverse drug responses, which can lead to adverse drug events. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Patients frequently receive new medications or have changes made to their existing prescriptions during transitions in care, such as hospital admission, transfer from one unit to another during hospitalization, or discharge from the hospital to home or another institution (AHRQ, 2019). Although most of these modifications are deliberate, accidental alterations often occur for various reasons. For example, hospital-based doctors may not have easy access to patients’ comprehensive pre-admission medication lists or may be ignorant of recent drug changes (AHRQ, 2019). As a result, the new pharmaceutical regimen recommended at the time of discharge may omit necessary medications, duplicate existing therapy, or contain inappropriate amounts. These inconsistencies put patients at risk for adverse drug events (ADEs), which have been found to be among the most frequent complications following hospital discharge (AHRQ, 2019). By reviewing the patient’s complete medication regimen at the time of admission, transfer, and discharge and comparing it with the regimen being considered for the new care setting, medication reconciliation refers to avoiding such unintentional inconsistencies across transitions in care (AHRQ, 2019). Therefore, I agree with you the use of EMRs such as EPIC, and Point-Click Care which allows a free flow of information will not only help in reducing medication errors but also in the provision of a more efficient way to securely collect, access, and organize, store and share information (Dagliati et al., 2021). The broad adoption of electronic health records, according to McGonigle & Mastrian (2019), has encouraged cooperation between public and commercial sector stakeholders on a wide range of healthcare information solutions.
As you pointed out, the growth of nursing informatics has had a tremendous influence on medical advancement, especially in terms of patient safety in our healthcare system. However, how well is nursing informatics received in the healthcare field? You mention that it is heavily utilized in healthcare which I beg to differ. For instance, I have worked in many healthcare organizations and none of them had a health informaticist’s office but all of them had IT personnel. Many organizations prefer Information Technologists to nurse informaticists. One study points out that the reason healthcare organizations have not warmed up to nursing informatics’ is that there is confusion about what it is and what it means to nursing (Reid et al., 2021). I would like to hear from you if, at your place of work, you have IT personnel, a nurse informaticist, or even both. I have no doubt that nurse informatics will be accepted at some point in the healthcare sector since it has demonstrated its value in defining clinical workflow, boosting productivity, and enhancing patient quality.
Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your work and most importantly I have learned.
THE INCLUSION OF NURSES IN THE SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT LIFE CYCLE.
A System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) provides a standard project management framework that can improve the quality of information systems. It is a standardized approach to developing and implementing information technology (IT). In this discussion, I will highlight the waterfall model. This strategy provides a methodical, intentional, and systematic road map for creating information systems. It is broken down into six phases: feasibility, analysis, design, implementation, test, and maintenance (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). The stages are cascaded subsequently with the progression of development flowing downwards across the stages hence the name waterfall. According to McGonigle & Mastrian (2022), the output from each previous phase flows into or becomes the initial input for the next phase. For successful implementation of health information technology, multiple disciplines must accomplish numerous tasks to produce a technically sound, regulatory, compliant, and user-friendly Health Information Technology (HIT) system, supporting safe, effective, and efficient patient care delivery. In order to sustain good performance in the healthcare sector, nursing staff participation in the SDLC is crucial. The SDLC may produce processes with problems for the end users if nurses are not included as contributors.
Feasibility study
This is the first step of software development in which a senior member of every department collects basic information. Technological and systems, economic, legal, operational, and schedule feasibility study is usually performed (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). It is an important step in SDLC that helps to determine if a proposed software is viable, practical, and cost-effective (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). If nurses are not included in the feasibility phase, an inadequate system that does not satisfy all the staff’s demands may be established. Nurses are in a prime position to contribute to the feasibility phase of the project’s development because of the fantastic bedside experiences they have gained from spending more time with patients and they are the end-users of the systems as well.
System Analysis
A procedure for examining a technical system in order to create, enhance, or debug it. The team concentrates on the source of the problem or change that is required at this phase. This gives the team the opportunity to do a functional analysis and ascertain the needs of the system’s users. Nurses as the end users of the HIT are best positioned to pinpoint any issues with the existing HIT system. Therefore, their role in this phase is to share information on the challenges and benefits they have experienced while using the existing system. The challenges of the present information system in terms of gathering, evaluating, storing, retrieving, and utilizing the information are best understood by nurses. If the nurses are not involved at this stage, a new system with the same flaws as the current one may be developed. Or it might cost the healthcare facility too much money for a new system when all it was needed was to improve the existing HIT system.
System design
The design phase is concentrated on data and interface design (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). The team members decide which programs are required during this phase and how they will interact (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). Based on the findings of the system analysis, the developers may either design a new HIT system or enhance the current one during this phase. In this stage, nurses are essential because they make recommendations for operational procedures that should be implemented into the new systems to improve performance. In order to ensure that the new system works to its optimum, it is crucial for HIT developers to involve nurses in testing. According to McGonigle & Mastrian, (2022), prototypes of screenshots, reports, and procedures may be created to explain needs and get the team or stakeholders on the same side, decreasing the likelihood of problems with the system in the future.
System Implementation.
In this phase, Once the system has been tested and accepted by the user, the designs are brought to life through programming code (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). The system is installed to support the intended healthcare functions. Michigan Technological University (n.d.) lists the following as part of the implementation phase: user notification, user training, hardware installation, software installation on production computers, and integration of the system into routine work processes. Design reviews and system tests should be performed placing the system into operation to ensure that it meets all required specifications before it is introduced to be used. The role of the nurse in this phase is to participate in the design reviews and system checks to ensure that the new HIT meets their needs. Failure to involve nurses in this phase might result in the installation of unfamiliar and unhelpful systems that may render clinical care non-functional. In addition, new unfamiliar HIT systems may render the healthcare facility nonfunctional, placing the patients at risk.
System testing
The program is carefully examined at this phase, and any flaws are brought to the attention of the developers for correction. Testing continues up until the end users, or healthcare professionals, deem it suitable by their criteria. The system is assessed in light of its platform and the anticipated amount of data (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). The team then tests it as an entire system (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). Finally, the system is beta tested to see if it functions properly for the user (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). Users put the new system through its paces during beta testing to ensure it performs what they need it to, to conduct their jobs (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022). The best people to assess the benefits and pinpoint any problems that would prevent the patient care software from operating as intended are clinical nurses (Verma & Gupta, 2017). Before adopting a system or piece of software, decision-makers should consult with the nurses since they continue to be a vital connection in many clinical procedures in healthcare (Verma & Gupta, 2017). Failure to include nurses in this phase may lead to the rollout of a HIT system that will not be accepted by the nurses. A system that is not user-friendly to the nurses.
Maintenance Phase
The healthcare IT personnel will oversee continuous operations and maintenance alongside program managers (Singletary & Baker, 2019). System performance should be periodically reviewed to ensure it works as intended and to identify any upgrades. System backups ought to be done on a regular basis (Singletary & Baker, 2019). According to McGonigle and Mastrian (2002), maintenance entails providing users with assistance through genuine program updates. No project is static, and changes frequently take place throughout the SDLC, according to McGonigle & Mastrian (2022). Periodic maintenance is necessary for a functioning HIT system. The HIT is kept under observation to ensure it continues operating as intended and that any necessary repairs or updates are made. When software is created, it will occasionally be upgraded to keep up with evolving user needs and environmental changes. In order to implement certain new features, HIT system maintenance is required. By routinely replacing obsolete hardware, monitoring performance, enhancing software, and installing new updates so all requirements are fulfilled, this phase makes sure the system remains functional and up to date. The nurse’s responsibility at this stage is to draw attention to any missed bugs during the testing phase and report any systemic issues. The nurse is also charged with the duty of recommending elements that could be useful to be added later. If nurses are not included in the maintenance phase, it might result in obsolete software or applications that are ineffective and challenging to use. Failure to involve nurses in the maintenance phase might lead to an outdated application or software that is inefficient and difficult to operate. The HIT system will not support other roles of patient care. The nurses must be engaged to offer feedback on how the system has served them in patient care, a lack of this feedback will result in potential delays in clinical care.
Inclusion of nurses in the SDLC
A healthcare facility may make the shift from paper documentation to an appropriate health information technology system more seamlessly by involving nurses in the SDLC process. Nurses may assist a healthcare organization in implementing a HIT that is simple to use, clinically applicable, has little user effort, and produces easily retrievable information (Verma & Gupta, 2017). The likelihood of the new health information technology’s success increases dramatically when nurses are involved. Nurses may assist in addressing frequent problems as they appear during each stage of development. This guarantees more effective use of healthcare resources.
Personal experience of involvement in the SDLC.
I work for a home healthcare company that recently transitioned to an electronic health record. Unfortunately, there was no opportunity offered for nurses to offer input in its development. The impact was felt immediately on its implementation. It was a very rough first week of its implementation because of minimal training in its use and no nurses’ involvement in its development. The health information technology that was meant to improve workflow turned chaotic and very difficult to operate. Nurses reported lost notes and were forced to start all over again. Some other nurses didn’t know how to operate within the system. This took too much time away from the patient. Nurses called the office to ask questions and gave suggestions on how it could be improved. We can only do nursing notes, and fill out addendum of care forms at this time, but still use a paper MAR. It is not where we want it to be, but it is absolutely much better than paper charting.
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