Week 9 Discussion: The Inclusion of Nurses in the Systems Development Life Cycle
Failure rate in the development and implementation of health information systems infers an existent gap in the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC). SDLC phases include planning, analysis, designing, and implementation phases. Inclusion of nurses at each stage plays a crucial role in the final system design.
As the direct patient care providers, nurses consider their role vital and resourceful while developing new systems. These systems include drug delivery systems, health information systems, ICU systems, and telemedicine systems (Ehrler et al, 2019; McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). To this end, this discussion will evaluate the role nurses play in systems development and the ramifications of not being an active participant in systems development.
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Nurses are the main users of health systems. Development of health systems addresses nurses’ challenges, hence need for their inclusion in planning. The planning phase includes identifying the specific needs in the hospital, which in turn guide development of SMART goals.
Addressing nursing challenges raised by other cadres such as IT observers is likely to address a challenge incomprehensively. Arguably, reliable nursing goals for enhanced patient care are best derived by the nursing team. As such, nurse participation in the goal-development phase can help identify systemic needs with the care delivery process, making such an intervention easy for nurses to implement.
System analysis involves identifying the composition of the system, namely subsystems, users, processes and information flow (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, n.d. Week 9 Discussion: The Inclusion of Nurses in the Systems Development Life Cycle). Easy usability, redundancy and nurse friendliness can be addressed in this phase.
Nurses participation in this stage is vital as they can provide valuable input for the most efficient information flow. Nurses can also help identify gaps that could compromise patient’s privacy. Thus, while system-users often cut across all departments in the care delivery environment, access to pertinent patient information is always limited to those for which it is intended. For this reason, nurses’ involvement in the system security design is imperative as they help identify the security needs and extent required.
The design phase involves programmers and designers who design the proposed system into a workable platformer prototype. As design process progresses, prototypes of reports and processes are generated for meaningful clarifications. A nurse is vital to identify need for corrections or improvements even before the system design is over. This saves on resources that could be accrued by unattended hitches during the design (Qin et al, 2017). During implementation phase, the design is launched to the users for testing. This phase is followed by another cycle of the phases to adjust and correct identified problems, till the system is functional.
System development and maintenance is a continuous process. During my clinical practice, a team of IT experts had been identified to upgrade the health information system. The team comprised of only programmers and designers. The team however collected nurses’ views on adjustments that were necessary in the system. However, the phases of the system development were done with limited direct involvement of the hospital staff.
After two weeks, the upgrade was launched, and testing phase was initiated. Most nurses opted to carry on with the older version, claiming it was more efficient to add information, navigate and make reports. Although the new system addressed challenges in the older version, the team had installed input system processes that were redundant, especially during the patient admission process.
The system could also deny access to a nurse while off duty, making it difficult for nurses to complete personalized patient follow-up. Given these challenges, the system had to be redone to comply with user needs, a process that resulted in additional use of resources beyond what was initially allocated.
References
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (n.d.a). Health IT evaluation toolkit and evaluation measures quick reference guide. Retrieved September 27, 2018, from
https://healthit.ahrq.gov/health-it-tools-and-resources/evaluation-resources/health-it-evaluation-toolkit-and-evaluation-measures-quick-reference
Ehrler, F., Lovis, C., & Blondon, K. (2019). A Mobile Phone App for Bedside Nursing Care: Design and Development Using an Adapted Software Development Life Cycle Model. JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 7(4), e12551. https://doi.org/10.2196/12551
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Qin, Y., Zhou, R., Wu, Q. et al (2017). The effect of nursing participation in the design of a critical care information system: a case study in a Chinese hospital. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak 17, 165. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12911-017-0569-3
Discussion Week 9 Module 5 The Inculsion of Nurses in the Systems Development Life Cycle Instructions
Learning Resources
Required Readings
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
• Chapter 9, “Systems Development Life Cycle: Nursing Informatics and Organizational Decision Making” (pp. 175–187)
• Chapter 12, “Electronic Security” (pp. 229–242)
• Chapter 13, “Workflow and Beyond Meaningful Use” (pp. 245–261)
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (n.d.a). Health IT evaluation toolkit and evaluation measures quick reference guide. Retrieved September 27, 2018, from
https://healthit.ahrq.gov/health-it-tools-and-resources/evaluation-resources/health-it-evaluation-toolkit-and-evaluation-measures-quick-reference
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (n.d.b). Workflow assessment for health IT toolkit. Retrieved September 27, 2018, from https://healthit.ahrq.gov/health-it-tools-and-resources/evaluation-resources/workflow-assessment-health-it-toolkit
Required Media
Louis, I. (2011, August 17). Systems development life cycle (SDLC) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtpyjPrpyX8
Discussion: The Inclusion of Nurses in the Systems Development Life Cycle
In the media introduction to this module, it was suggested that you as a nurse have an important role in the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC). With a focus on patient care and outcomes, nurses may not always see themselves as contributors to the development of new systems. However, as you may have observed in your own experience, exclusion of nurse contributions when implementing systems can have dire consequences.
In this Discussion, you will consider the role you might play in systems development and the ramifications of not being an active participant in systems development.
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.
45 (45%) – 50 (50%)
Answers all parts of the discussion question(s) expectations with reflective critical analysis and synthesis of knowledge gained from the course readings for the module and current credible sources.
Supported by at least three current, credible sources.
Written clearly and concisely with no grammatical or spelling errors and fully adheres to current APA manual writing rules and style.