Technology-driven care outlines one of the many paradigm shifts in healthcare. Health information technology in patient management has improved healthcare quality, safety, and patient outcomes (Schoenbaum & Carroll, 2021). Additionally, it has led to new clinical roles for nurses, such as developing the critical role of nursing informatics specialists. The value of nursing informatics specialists was well appreciated during the COVID-19 pandemic, where nursing informaticists played a crucial role in the development of new clinical workflows, resulting in improved healthcare systems’ operational efficiencies and quality of care offered to the patients (Schoenbaum & Carroll, 2021). These benefits to the healthcare organisation underscore nursing informatics specialists’ benefits.
Crucial to the implementation of change in the healthcare setting involving health information technology is the systems development life cycle (SDLC). The systems development life cycle outlines the necessary steps for successful implementation of health information technology, starting with planning and requirements definition, analysis, design of the new system, and implementation. Of the stages, project implementation is the ultimate goal of health information technology introduction in the healthcare setting. However, health information technology implementation efforts fail due to a lack of good leadership in the healthcare setting (Laukka et al., 2020). Therefore, there is a need to involve nurse leaders in the implementation team for implementing health information technology.
Nurse leaders are valuable members of the implementation team for health information technology because they can help the team acquire unwavering support from the department’s nursing staff and health facility management (Laukka et al., 2020). The nurse leaders also function as change advocates and champions, thus helping to reduce resistance to change among healthcare professionals (Laukka et al., 2020). Further, a nurse leader can offer adequate and competent project and change management skills, resulting in successful endeavours for the health information technology implementation team (Laukka et al., 2020). However, there are pitfalls associated with involving nurse leaders in the implementation team for health information technology. These challenges include the need for more expertise in the use of health information technology and the introduction of organizational bureaucracy in the implementation team (Frilund et al., 2023). These challenges might delay the implementation process or curtail the implementation’s team success.
Role Description
Nurses assume a crucial role in the systems development life cycle despite the challenges associated with including nurse leaders in the implementation team. The role description for a graduate-level nurse to guide their participation in the implementation team is as follows:
Planning and Requirements Definition
This is the most crucial of all steps in the systems development life cycle requiring the graduate-level nurse to collaborate with other team members in the definition of the project’s scope, definition of the problem, determination of the project’s goals and expected outcome, design of the potential solutions to the identified problems, and creation of timelines for the project. Also, the nurse will assume roles in creating project evaluation tools to measure the project’s success upon completion.
Analysis
The nurse will evaluate the project requirements and determine the best sources for high-quality but affordable resources to help the project succeed. Further, the nurse will select the best-fit solutions from a pool of suggested alternatives. Lastly, the nurse will report the analysis findings to the project management for implementation.
Design of the New System
The nurse will assume crucial roles in needs assessment for the healthcare setting and tailoring the health information technology to the identified needs. The new system’s design will require testing to ensure efficiency in use and the development of further updates from starting prototypes. The nurse informatics specialist can help beta test prototypes and troubleshoot the technology to avoid operational errors.
Implementation
This phase will include the application of the technology in the healthcare setting. The nurse will assume the roles of change advocates and managers to encourage the use of the new systems and educate their fellow nurses on using the new system.
Post-Implementation Support
Lastly, the nurse will help with project evaluation by assessing the adoption rates, benefits, and challenges associated with the new technology. Further, the nurse will measure project outcomes to assess if the project met its goals.
References
Frilund, M., Fagerstrom, L., & Vasset, F. (2023). The challenges of change processes for nurse leaders – a qualitative study of long-term leaders’ experiences over 25 years. Nursing Open, 10(8), 5423-5432. https://doi.org/10.1002%2Fnop2.1781
Laukka, E., Huhtakangas, M., Heponiemi, T., & Kanste, O. (2020). Identifying roles of healthcare leaders in HIT implementation: A scoping review of the quantitative and qualitative evidence. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(8), 2865. https://doi.org/10.3390%2Fijerph17082865
Schoenbaum, E. A., & Carroll, M. W. (2021, April 21). Defining clinical workflow, increasing efficiency and improving quality. HIMSS. https://www.himss.org/resources/nursing-informatics-key-role-defining-clinical-workflow-increasing-efficiency-and
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