Inclusion of Nurses in 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.
Discuss 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.Inclusion of Nurses in Systems Development Life Cycle
Introduction
The Systems Development Cycle is a continuous life cycle that aims to deliver an information system that is highly effective and efficient that fits within an organization’s business plan. In the health sector, the Systems Development Life Cycle comprises a needs assessment of an organization where both the ancillary professionals and physicians are included. It follows the waterfall model where one phase flows to the next and is specifically and is made up of six phases namely: feasibility, analysis, design implementation, testing, and maintenance. Since nurses comprise 55% of the entire health workforce, it is imperative that they are included in every step of the SDLC; failure to which a system can be developed that fails to fulfill the needs of an organization (McGonagall & Mastrian, 2015). This paper discusses potential consequences that a healthcare organization can face for not involving nurses in each stage of the SDLC in the purchase or implementation of a new HIT system. It also explains how the inclusion of nurses can help to address some of the issues.
Consequences of Not Involving Nurses in Each Stage of the SDLC and How Inclusion of Nurses Can Help Address These Issues
In the SDLC of a new HIT, an economic, operational, legal and schedule feasibility (TELOS) is usually performed. Failure to include nurses in the feasibility phase can lead to the development of a system that is ineffective and does not address all of the needs of staff. Nurses spend more time with patients and have a lot of bedside experience which makes them be better placed of knowing what is likely or less likely to be effective. As a result, the HIT system that may be developed may certainly fail to improve the care given to patients (McGonagall & Mastrian, 2015).
In the analysis phases, the workflows and requirements of a new HIT system are examined. Nurses are patient managers and collaborate with other healthcare professionals to manage patients. This means that they have a better understanding of the workflow and responsibility of every staff involved in patient care. Therefore failure to include nurses in the analysis phase can result in a system that does not have a positive workflow or the actual input of workflow (McGonagall & Mastrian, 2015). Inclusion of Nurses in Systems Development Life Cycle
The design phase has different processes including interface design and data design which explain how programs will be visualized and the data that will be essential. Since nurses interact with patients at every point of care, they input and output patient data the most. Therefore, they have a better understanding of the most essential and non-essential patient data that is needed at every point of care. Failure to include nurses in the design phase, it is likely that essential data can easily be left out and the final product designed can be that which is inefficient to use that consumes a lot of time or fails to collect all important information (Thomas, Seifert & Joyner, 2016)
In the implementation phase, a design is brought to life and the requirements for programming are chosen depending on application requirements. When nurses are not involved in this phase can lead to the development of an unfamiliar and unhelpful system that may be rendered non-functional in clinical care. As explained by Zytkowsi et al., (2015), when nurses understand the system and how it operates, they can easily navigate through it and even assist other professionals who may experience difficulties.
The testing phase is vital as it helps to ensure that every IT resources function as expected and that the system does what it is supposed to do correctly. When nurses are not involved in testing, the system can pass this phase yet unknowingly fail to support other patient care roles making it fail to run well. The maintenance phase comprises of user support which can be through changes in software over time. When nurses are not involved in maintenance, any changes made can cause delays in operating the system resulting in delays in patient care (Daly, 2015).
Selection and Planning of a New HIT In My Healthcare Organization and Potential Impacts of Being Included In the Decision Making Process
In my healthcare organization, during the development and implementation of the HIT system, the management tried its best to include nurses at every stage of the SDLC. The inclusion of nurses proved to be of benefit since some of them managed to capture design and communication flaws which could negatively impact the delivery of clinical care and patient safety (Zytkowsi et al., 2015). Although nurses were included, there arose the need to redesign workflows in the emergency department since it had a case report system which proved to be incompatible with the entire EHRs. The incompatibility resulted in additional operational costs and contributed to the work frustrations of most ED nurses.Inclusion of Nurses in Systems Development Life Cycle
References
Daly, P. (2015). Clinical nurses lead the charge with EHR. Nursing2018, 45(10), 25-26.
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K.G. (2015). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Thomas, T. W., Seifert, P. C., & Joyner, J. C. (2016). Registered nurses leading innovative changes. OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 21(3).
Zytkowsi, M., Paschke, S., McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. (2015). Administrative information systems. In D. McGonigle & K. G. Mastrian (Eds.), Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (3rd ed., pp. 187-200). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Inclusion of Nurses in Systems Development Life Cycle