Portfolio Assignment: The Role of the Nurse Informaticist in Systems Development and Implementation
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 not including the title and reference page)
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:
- Planning and requirements definition
- Analysis
- Design of the new system
- Implementation
- Post-implementation support
- Use APA format and include a title page and reference page.
- Use the Safe Assign Drafts to check your match percentage before submitting your work.
By Day 7 of Week 10
Submit your completed Role Description.
Introduction
In the process of implementing a new system, nurses play an instrumental role in ensuring its success. The increasing use of technology in the heath setting as opined by McGonigle and Mastrian (2021) has helped in the improvement of the safety and efficiency of healthcare providers. This has also led to the rise in the roles and responsibilities that nurses play in informatics. As such, the nurses will help in the process of analysis of the problem and developing proposed solutions in a system development life cycle. This assessment aims to evaluate the role that nurse informaticists play in the implementation team based on the SDLC stages.
Planning and requirements definition
Hübne et al. (2018) depict that the process of planning is a fundamental process that will increase the chance of successful outcomes in the program or operations. The lead nurse will have a role in ensuring that there is a healthcare plan provided to the developers. The nurses will ensure that they identify the patient's needs as they are with the patients at all times and have an understanding of their needs.
Analysis
The process of establishment of the workflow a system processes will be undertaken in the analysis phase. In this case, the nurse is supposed to help in the determination of the success in the attainment of the requirements set up and the possible changes that should be implemented at the moment. In the analysis phase, the nurses will help in providing an explanation and discussing the various components that worked initially in the system. As a result of having this information, it will be easier to ensure that the components that are not working well are done with. The nurse informaticist will as well help in the discussion on how to ensure that the requirements can be met.
Design of the new system
In the process stage, there is a general look at the system. Various decisions are supposed to be made during the design phase about the data that is available. The team as well will help in the generation of reports and prototypes of milestones that are supposed to be met during different times as opined by Collins et al. (2017). The role of the nurse informaticist in this phase is to assess the flowcharts and ensure that they are in order and that it will be expected to lead to the expected outcome.
Implementation
The implementation process will entail the use of various coding languages in the process of the actual implementation of the proposed intervention. The nurse informatics will help in the organization of meetings with the staff and ensure that there is a collection of feedback from the stakeholders. They are as well supposed to help in the process of reinforcement of the staff morale regarding the project and the advantages that it is expected to bring in the health setting.
In the implementation phase as well a nurse informaticist will ensure that there is tracking and monitoring of the rate that there is compliance to the use of the new system. This helps in the determination of the actions that are needed for the full implementation of the project and for getting the support of all the stakeholders (Elewa & El Guindy, 2017). For example, they may help in planning for training of staff on the change of the systems from the old to the new system.
Post-implementation support
Post-implementation support is the process of testing and maintenance. The process of testing the system is supposed to be done before it is delivered. In this phase, the nurse informaticist will help in ensuring that there is an alignment of the outcome that is found and the expectations. The nurse informaticist is as well expected to ensure that there is a plan on how to educate the stakeholders on the use of the system. In the maintenance of the system, the nurse informaticist will help in the notification of the team or the system developer of the changes that are needed.
Conclusion
It is conclusive that there has been a rise in the use of technology for the past decade in the health setting. This has helped in improving safety and efficiency in the health setting. With the use of technology healthcare providers have had additional roles such as the process of taking part in the process of system development. The nurse informaticist as well will play an important role in the process of the development of a new system.
References
Collins, S., Yen, P. Y., Phillips, A., & Kennedy, M. K. (2017). Nursing informatics competency assessment for the nurse leader: The Delphi study. JONA: The Journal of Nursing Administration, 47(4), 212-218.
Elewa, A. H., & El Guindy, H. A. (2017). Nursing students' perception and educational needs regarding nursing informatics. International Journal of Nursing Didactics, 7(3), 12-20.
Hübner, U., Shaw, T., Thye, J., Egbert, N., de Fatima Marin, H., Chang, P., ... & Ball, M. J. (2018). Technology informatics guiding education reform–TIGER. Methods of information in medicine, 57(S 01), e30-e42.
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. (2021). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.