Project Management in Healthcare

Introduction

Project management is the input of knowledge, processes, skills, methods and experience as a means of achieving the objectives of a given project. The project is identified as a unique activity where the tasks that have been undertaken are defined specifically in a bid to realize significant benefits. In the healthcare industry, the medical practitioners are usually identified to have an individualistic perspective where they each will carry out their various activities on their own. Project management will usually take into consideration this individualistic issue and make it a point of bringing people together particularly for the purpose of improving outcomes within the institution. The following paper looks into the different aspects project management can be integrated through the project of introducing new technology in the institution. This is in regards to the use of recording patient medical history and current health concerns into the recommended technology as a means of improving efficiency and efficacy of healthcare outcomes. 

Integration of Information Technology

In a bid to improve the impact of healthcare and treatment activities, the use of technology has been identified as an important factor. This is where the medical practitioners integrate their skills and use the available information technology as a means of assisting the patients that they attend to. The information technology in modern technology has been identified to have advanced faster than it has been integrated into the health facilities in the community. This has mainly been identified as a resistance by medical practitioners to comply with the current trends towards incorporating technology in their various activities. Raghupathi and Raghupathi (2014) have identified the historical evidence of large amounts of data being generated by the members of the healthcare industry. This has been common due to record keeping, requirements and compliance to regulatory groups. In the past this data would be collected and stored as a hard copy. However, the current trends dictate the need to incorporate digital storage of information.

Numerous hospitals and medical facilities have been actively involved in the integration of these information and technology equipment in a bid to meet the current standards of medical practice. The involved medical practitioners are required to effectively and smoothly incorporate these technology devices without interrupting the normal occurrence of operations in the institutions. Significant research studies have been carried out to identify the effectiveness of incorporating information technology for recording medical information and that of the patient (Mayer et al., 2016). These studies indicate the improved efficiency among medical practitioners as they are able to utilize the recording devices with an ultimate goal of increasing positive health outcomes for the various visiting patients. The quality of healthcare is also believed to be an added benefit for using the digital record keeping platforms for the health institutions (Mihalas et al., 2014). It is evident that the use of project management is an important factor in this integration practice. This will ensure that the medical facility effectively plans, organizes and implements the information technology devices without disrupting the activities of the medical practitioners.

Purpose, Roles, and Responsibilities

Project management is an important factor in the effective incorporation of information technology tools into the institution. The physicians identify that the main purpose of the management of the project is creating an effective means of providing patients with efficient and quality care. The management of the project will ensure that the physicians in question will incorporate the devices provided into their day to day activities and detach themselves from the old ways of using hard copies for record keeping. The project manager has a major role to play in this case as he or she motivates and empowers workers to incorporate these technology devices (Phillips, Wilson, Kaushal & Merrill, 2014). This will usually require a medical practitioner with expertise in management. The physicians play the role of implementers as they use these new devices to record new medical information about the patients that they encounter. They will be responsible for reporting any problems that they encounter with these devices in a bid to enable the project manager to provide training and experts who will correct any defects identified. 

Project scope and key stakeholders

The incorporation of healthcare informatics tools is a necessary component in the modern day hospital. This is where the physicians using these technology devices will be able to input and retrieve medical information of a patient quicker than was previously the case. The physicians of different medical institutions will also be able to communicate as they are able to interact using common platforms. This is an effective means of ensuring that the patient discussed will receive the most appropriate medical attention required (Kawamoto et al., 2015). The use of the technology devices is necessary as it is evident that the key stakeholder is the patient who is able to receive efficient and quality care. The health providers are other key stakeholders including insurance companies who require information of a patient before the bill is paid. The medical institution is another stakeholder seeking to monitor the operation of its medical practitioners to ensure that ethical and professional standards are upheld in providing care to a patient (Shortliffe & Cimino, 2013).

Estimated Timeframe for Completion

The integration of electronic healthcare devices for recording patient health information should be carried out in a moderate amount of time. This is where implementation of the new technology is neither rushed nor is it prolonged for lengthy times. The members of staff in the institution are assumed to be open-minded individuals who are willing to adopt new technologies to improve the load of work and improve quality of services offered. In such a case, the project will only require a short while for instance a few weeks to carry out the effective training and implementation of the technology. However, this is not the case and medical practitioners may have differing opinions on the technology incorporated (Klann, McCoy, Wright, Wattanasin, Sittig, & Murphy, 2015). This will require even months to complete. As a result, a time frame between three to five months will enable the practitioners to effectively learn the use of the new technology in use. This will also provide the executives in the institution to monitor the impact of the technology in the daily operations.

Financial Considerations

Incorporating health informatics tools is believed to realize significant financial expenses on the part of the healthcare institution. These expenses are presented by the need to purchase the various computers, laptops or mobile phones. It is also evident that numerous medical workers will require significant training in the use of these devices. This may be done through providing an expert for the training process or recommending an effective training program online for the workers who will use the devices. The organization will also need to look into the various maintenance, upgrade and security issues of incorporating electronic technology for record keeping. Various experts should be hired to monitor these devices as they are incorporated into the daily activities of the institution. It is important to identify the financial situation of the institution before incorporating any new technology device (Ali, Nassif & Capretz, 2013). This will ensure that the project is fully funded and can be supported during the estimated timeframe of the project. 

Team Development Considerations and Communication 

Through various studies, it is evident that implementation of a new technological device is nearly impossible to carry out through the entirety of the institution. Most hospitals will usually incorporate the technology using a pilot group. This is the use of a single department or practitioners from one shift in a bid to test the effectiveness of the technology in achieving particular goals identified by the institution (Ancker, Miller, Patel, Kaushal, & HITECH Investigators, 2014). The operating room may be the pilot group utilized to incorporate the electronic health recording devices. The project manager will prepare a memo for the practitioners who will be included. This may be placed on notice boards or using emails to alert the practitioners before the project commences.

Risks Associated with Project Completion

Upon the completion of the project there are numerous risks or challenges that may be identified. It is possible that the various objectives that may be identified at the beginning of the project may not have been completed by the required time frame. In this case, it is possible that the project may have to be extended which will mean the organization incurs more expenses than earlier expected (Avillach et al., 2013). The results received at the end of the project may not demonstrate the positive outcomes of incorporating electronic health records. This may reflect the poor attitude of the institution as opposed to the impact of the technology in use. Nevertheless, this may cause a negative belief on the technology used.

References

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Ancker, J. S., Miller, M. C., Patel, V., Kaushal, R., & with the HITEC Investigators. (2014). “Socio-technical challenges to developing technologies for patient access to health information exchange data.”  Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association ,  21 (4), 664-670.

Avillach, P., Coloma, P. M., Gini, R., Schuemie, M., Mougin, F., Dufour, J. C., ... & Molokhia, M. (2013). Harmonization process for the identification of medical events in eight European healthcare databases: the experience from the EU-ADR project.  Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association ,  20 (1), 184-192.

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