New Technology Interview

Details:

1) Interview a health care leader about a new technology he or she selected, planned for, and implemented.

2) Write a paper of 1,000–1,200 words, from your perspective, on how that process occurred, what happened, what the leader would do again, and what mistakes he or she may have made.

3) Refer to the assigned readings to incorporate specific examples and details into your paper.

4) Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

5) This assignment uses a grading rubric. Instructors will be using the rubric to grade the assignment; therefore, students should review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the assignment criteria and expectations for successful completion of the assignment.

New Technology Interview

In the modern health care setting, the incorporation of technology into health care service delivery has become a central aspect of providing high-quality services (Hovenga, 2010). In this respect, many health care facilities have strongly embraced this incorporation of technology.

An interview and discussion with my Informatics Chief at the VA where I work clearly demonstrated the need to successfully incorporate technology into health care. In my VA, the Electronic Health Records (EHR) system has been instrumental in streamlining the provision of services to patients (Kabene, 2010). This system has also increased the efficiency of nurses and physicians in a great way, demonstrating the need to embrace and incorporate technology into health care service delivery in the modern world.

The EHR system at my VA is a valuable tool that all physicians and nurses rely on at all times in order to streamline the delivery of services. After the interview with the Informatics Chief, it became quite clear that the development and incorporation of an EHR system is a lengthy and involving process (Daigrepont & McGrath, 2011; McDonald, 1997).

Seeing as every hospital differs from another in terms of operational procedure and management, the EHR system must be designed to suit the facility in question. This calls for a specialized analysis of the needs and operations of the facility before the EHR system can be tailored (Hovenga, 2010).

In addition to this analysis, in-depth discussions with board and staff members on the benefits and sustainability of the system need to be conducted as well (Walker, Bieber, & Richards, 2005). These discussions are aimed at understanding the needs of patients, physicians, and nurses so as to develop a system that meets said needs while still being sustainable (DeNisco & Barker, 2016). Once these issues have been resolved, the system can be developed and installed.

However, the Informatics Chief was also quick to point out the importance of training in the implementation of this system. The staff need to be well-trained in the use of this system in order to ensure that when it is implemented it does not result in delays and inefficiency at the facility (Daigrepont & McGrath, 2011). This was arguably the most important aspect of the implementation seeing as it was the most rigorous. To ensure that training is well-conducted, the facility had to train the staff in groups, thereby ensuring that the hospital was still able to function efficiently. It is also worth noting that the staff are trained in the use of the system before it is fully implemented.

After the system was fully implemented, the hospital admittedly suffered some inefficiencies for a short period of time. This adjustment period was often filled with a sense of confusion and uncertainty. This was perhaps the result of having the staff shift over to a system that completely revolutionized the way in which the facility operates. This is to be expected in almost any health facility that adopts a new system (Daigrepont & McGrath, 2011).

Nonetheless, the staff soon adjusted and staff performance and efficiency significantly increased, enabling the hospital to function more efficiently insofar as the delivery of health care services was concerned (Hayrinene, Sanranto, Nykanen, 2007). After the development and implementation of this system, there were scheduled upgrades to the system to help improve its efficiency (Kabene, 2010). As a result, the staff had to periodically informed of such upgrades and where necessary, trained to enable them better navigate the newly upgraded system.

While the interview with the Informatics Chief was largely successful, it should be noted that there are some aspects of the EHR system development and integration that the Chief thought he could do over. First off, he admits that the decrease in efficiency after the system implementation was the result of rushed training. He admits that the training provided to the staff could have been more effectively provided, and particularly so when it comes to the nurses (Hovenga, 2010).

Seeing as nurses relied on this system to perform their duties when handling patients, their inability to fully comprehend and navigate the system affected the facility’s efficiency and performance soon after the system was implemented (Hayrinene et al., 2007). While they did catch up eventually, it was a problem that could have been avoided.

Similarly, it became clear that although the system was developed specifically to address the processes and needs of the facility in question, a better analysis would have been conducted (Daigrepont & McGrath, 2011). As a result of the relatively shallow analysis, the system has been subjected to several upgrades in order to address more needs. For instance, the upgrade of the system to include scheduling and billing aspects of patients in a bid to incorporate some practice management functions could have built into the initial system (Kabene, 2010). The Informatics Chief admits that having such features incorporated from the start could have reduced the need for upgrades and accompanied re-training of staff to understand the system.

From the interview, it is also clear that the facility, and the Informatics Chief by extension, made some mistakes insofar as the system implementation is concerned. First off, the analysis of the facility should have been more in-depth and long-term oriented from the start (Hovenga, 2010). The Informatics Chief should have predicted the future need to incorporate various functions into the system and used this insight to develop a comprehensive and integrative system right from the start (DeNisco & Barker, 2016).

Similarly, the implementation of the system should have been phased as opposed to a total overhaul of the entire system. By first introducing the system to one or two departments, it could have significantly improved the ability of the staff to familiarize themselves with the system before it was fully rolled out (Daigrepont & McGrath, 2011; Kabene, 2010). This should have been an important part of the implementation process.

At the same time, the training provided should have been more rigorous for both nurses and physicians. By avoiding such mistakes, the facility could have received a comprehensive system and a well-trained staff by the time the system was rolled out in the entire hospital (Daigrepont & McGrath, 2011). Such factors could have significantly reduced the number of upgrades the system has received since installation. It could have also minimized the drops in efficiency that the facility was subjected to soon after implementation (Walker et al., 2005).

In spite of all these mistakes, the implementation of the EHR system within my facility provides a set of valuable lessons that any facility looking install an EHR system in the future can learn and benefit from in numerous ways. At the same time, the benefits experienced by the facility as a result of the EHR system demonstrates the growing need to incorporate technology into health care (Hovenga, 2010; Kabene, 2010). It is the direction in which health care service delivery is moving, and any facility left behind is bound to suffer from endless inefficiency troubles.

References

Daigrepont, J. P., & McGrath, D. (2011). Complete guide and toolkit to successful EHR adoption. Chicago, IL: Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.

DeNisco, S. M., & Barker, A. M. (2016). Advanced practice nursing: Essential knowledge for the Profession (3rd ed.). Boston: Jones & Bartlett.

Hayrinene, K., Sanranto, K., Nykanen, P. (2007). Definition, structure, content, use and impacts

of electronic medical health records: A review of the research literature. Retrievedfrom: www.sciencedirect.com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/science/article/pii/S1386505607001682?via%3Dihub

Hovenga, E. J. S. (2010). Health informatics: An overview. Amsterdam: IOS Press.

Kabene, S. M. (2010). Healthcare and the effect of technology: Developments, challenges, and advancements. Hershey, Pa: IGI Global.

McDonald, C. (1997). The barriers to electronic medical record systems and how to overcome them. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC61236/

Walker, J. M., Bieber, E. J., & Richards, F. (2005). Implementing an electronic health record system. London: Springer-Verlag London Limited.