NURS 6051 Inclusion Of Nurses In Systems Development Life Cycle
To Prepare:
- Review the steps of the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) as presented in the Resources.
- Reflect on your own healthcare organization and consider any steps your healthcare organization goes through when purchasing and implementing a new health information technology system.
- Consider what a nurse might contribute to decisions made at each stage of the SDLC when planning for new health information technology.
By Day 3 of Week 9
Post a description of what you believe to be the consequences of a healthcare organization not involving nurses in each stage of the SDLC when purchasing and implementing a new health information technology system. Provide specific examples of potential issues at each stage of the SDLC and explain how the inclusion of nurses may help address these issues. Then, explain whether you had any input in the selection and planning of new health information technology systems in your nursing practice or healthcare organization and explain potential impacts of being included or not in the decision-making process. Be specific and provide examples.
Hello Miranda, I concur with your comments that it is crucial to include nurses in the SDLC process, especially during the development and deployment of EHR systems. The end-users of these systems are frequently nurses, who, as you indicated, play a critical role in the delivery of patient care. In order to ensure that the system is created to fit their needs and processes, they can participate in the SDLC process and provide input.
One SDLC-related issue that may arise is the lack of participation by nurses in the SDLC process due to their unfamiliarity with the design process and lack of practical expertise. The SDLC process should be explained and taught to nurses, and they should be involved in the project’s initial planning as a means of resolving this issue (Golay et al., 2020). Nurses can contribute their understanding and experience in providing patient care in this way, which could result in better design choices.
As you stated in your discussion, the assignment of the appropriate resources might also be a problem during the SDLC process. To guarantee the project’s success, it is critical to have a team with the required knowledge and abilities (Kushniruk & Borycki, 2022). Nurse involvement in the project team can help guarantee that the system is created to satisfy the needs of all end-users, in addition to having an informatics nurse specialist and team leaders for each key department.
In the example you gave, including nurses in the SDLC procedure might have ensured that the EHR system was created to fit their demands and workflows, resulting in enhanced patient safety and care delivery (Collins Rossetti et al., 2019). Nurses can offer invaluable insights into issues and potential solutions, and by allowing them to participate in the SDLC process, nurses can guarantee that the system is created to address their requirements and concerns.
In conclusion, it is essential for the project’s success that nurses participate in the SDLC procedure when implementing EHRs. They can aid in the buy-in process and offer insightful information about how the system will affect patient care and daily operations while contributing to continuing system evaluation and monitoring. Therefore, collaboration among organizations helps guarantee that the final product meets the requirements of all parties involved and enhances patient outcomes.
By Day 6 of Week 9
Respond to at least two of your colleagues* on two different days, by offering additional thoughts regarding the examples shared, SDLC-related issues, and ideas on how the inclusion of nurses might have impacted the example described by your colleagues.
A nurse’s role is to provide nursing care in a dynamic manner, including interacting with medical providers when providing care. Keeping up with current technology is essential for nurses. Developing efficient and effective information systems is the goal of the systems development life cycle (SDLC).
A Systems Development Life Cycle consists of the following stages:
As a result of the technology system, health-care organizations are able to minimize the amount of manual work required to do their jobs, which results in better patient outcomes. A life cycle diagram of the system development lifecycle (SDLC) is shown below.
- Information delivery processes and procedures that incorporate HIT systems for their viability and usability
- Conducts an evaluation of the efficiency and usability of HIT systems.
- In order to promote health care services, the system needs to be made more efficient.
- The HIT system is implemented, taking into consideration the output that will result.
- Overall system maintenance
HIT systems are still purchased and installed by the finance department and managing director of healthcare organizations. An organization can opt to build its own HIT system or purchase one from a third party during the analysis phase. Identifying what characteristics should be included in the new system is critical. The lack of an understanding that is well-documented and well-understood.
- On the basis of their own knowledge and experiences, nurses could suggest areas in which more attention should be paid in the first stage of the process, assist in the analytical method, and manage initiatives.
- Lack of nurses’ involvement may lead to an inability for beginners to analyze and implement new health information technology systems, and end users’ inability to manage them. A critical requirement for implementing the technology may be overlooked by nurses, as end-users. Nurses should be included in equipment design to avoid costly equipment defects. In the planning process, it is important to develop training programs that clearly define vendor participation. A web page for the nursing department should be set up to provide training materials and user manuals for new systems, along with delivery times and locations for equipment. In order to encourage full stall participation, nurse managers should coordinate training sessions with organizations.
Nurses provide invaluable feedback during the implementation of new technologies, during the trial phase as well as following the official implementation. Especially when scanning the wristband, the BCMA method can be challenging. All of these factors can result in a scanning failure, including smearing, spacing, barcode placement or direction, durability when wet, and patient comfort. These concerns may be addressed by nurses through a variety of solutions. An evaluation was conducted by nurses to determine whether the wristband information matched the bar code next to it.
Evaluation of projects by nurses. To identify whether concerns are stem-wide or unit-specific, focus groups with direct care nurses are essential. The BCMA PROCESS is often bypassed by nurses, or the patient identification number is entered rather than scanned as a result of system failure. It is useful to conduct short surveys.
Work Cited
Yen, P. Y., & Bakken, S. (2012). Review of health information technology usability study methodologies. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 19(3), 413-422.
Sengstack, P. P. (2016). Information System Lifecycles in Health Care. In Clinical Informatics Study Guide (pp. 255-286). Springer, Cham.
In healthcare, modern technology is necessary to help facilitate patient care. Various clinical systems are utilized, from point-of-care testing to electronic healthcare records. When facilities introduce new methods, stakeholders are involved in creating a systems development life cycle (SDLC). With SDLC, there a various types; waterfall, rapid application development (RAD), object-oriented systems development (OODS), and dynamic system development method (DSDM). SDLC addresses a problem or need, creates a plan, implements the system, reviews and evaluates, and sometimes destroys it if it is impractical. The waterfall approach is linear, where each step must be accomplished before moving on to the next. Rapid application development is a faster method incorporating functionality and user testing. Object-oriented systems utilize incorporate data from the system to test their effectiveness. Last is DSDM, where the SDLC is very interactive and involves much user involvement.
In most healthcare facilities, patients have rights, one of which ensures that patients are provided their healthcare information in methods and language they can understand. Per the patients’ bill of rights, patients have the right to “receive complete information about diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis from the physician, in terms that are easily understood. If it is medically inadvisable to give such information to you, it will be given to a legally authorized representative” (Department of Health and Human Services, 2021).
In my facility in 2018, they implemented an SDLC as RAD by introducing My Accessible Real-Time Trusted Interpreter (MARTTI) (Gritman, 2019). The system “provides language access to help connect, communicate, and provide excellent care to your limited English proficient, Deaf, and hard-of-hearing individual” (MARTTI, 2023 ). The tablet system provides real-time interpretation in various languages, including American Sign Language. Patient representatives from my facility brought the system around to multiple units. They had them actively use the service in front of the patients requiring the MARRTTI. It was instrumental in using the nurses with the team to use the system as they are usually the first encounter with the patients. Having the nurses use the system first and ensuring they know how to effectively use the system to provide accurate communication with communication determinates. Additionally, getting the nurses’ input is crucial since they communicate with patients more often than other healthcare members. With the MARTTI system needing to incorporate the nursing staff who need to use it, it could impend vital feedback between the facility and the nursing staff.
Utilizing the RAD SDLC approach let me and other nurses immediately implement the MARTTI in real-time. Over time the MARRIT is updated as improvements are needed. Since I function in an emergency room, the RAD approach lets me and other nurses use the MARRTI right when they need it. When there are instances in my unit where there are issues connecting to the services or a particular language is unavailable. The nursing staff can and does inform the facility consistently when there are shortfalls in the system. Generally, as a nurse and interacting with the patients, I provided considerably enhanced care to my patients. I ensured they had their needs addressed during the care visits. I could provide feedback on improved patient care with the system when it ran smoothly. I had delayed care for my patients due to a long wait for an interpreter. Since the enactment of MARTTI, vast improvements in patient care have increased the unit’s efficiency.
References
Department of Health and Human Services. (2021, May 24). Patient Bill of Rights | Clinical center home page. Clinical Center Clinical Center. Retrieved April 21, 2023, from https://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/participate/patientinfo/legal/bill_of_rights.html
Gritman. (2019, January 15). Meet Martti, Gritman’s newest language interpreter. Gritman.org. https://www.gritman.org/meet-martti-gritmans-newest-language-interpreter
MARTTI. (2023, March 23). Language access is provided by Martti. Martti by UpHealth. https://www.martti.us/interpretation/
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. (2021). Systems Development Life Cycle: Nursing Informatics and Organizational Decision Making. In Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (5th ed., p. 191–204). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Penn Medicine. (2018, March 30). Meet MARTTI, Pennsy’s master of languages – Penn medicine. Penn Medicine News. https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/internal-newsletters/whats-new/2018/june/meet-martti-pennsys-master-of-languages