Many thanks for compiling the booklet which should be a must read before anyone embarks on an "IT" project for their healthcare department and the checklist should prompt any amount of head scratching. However I genuinely believe these shouldn't be IT projects.
IT is just another tool to help us do our stuff more efficiently and effectively and projects such as these should preferably be led by someone in the department which also has the benefit of conferring ownership. It helps avoid the usual cries of what "IT have done to us" (again).
The department might want to enlist a project manager from the IT department, after all it's what they do in managing change. Perhaps there's one thing which was touched on in the comments and could be added to your checklist which is "understand the project requirements and scope" (ok two things).
All projects suffer from some lack of understanding of these two vital aspects and thus expectations of what a project will deliver. Nailing these two and managing them ongoing will pay huge dividends in the end.
As someone who experienced a full EPR install that was touted as the bees-knees, the ludicrous amount of paper document record keeping we needed to keep tabs on the fudged work-arounds and massive holes we found, just for ultrasound work loads was outrageous.
I cannot imagine just how insane it must have been for other departments. The frayed tempers were palpable.
Oct 28, 2023·edited Oct 28, 2023Liked by Christina Pagel
Your cartoons are spot on and very funny.
Sorry for the long response but you triggered a lot of frustration I've had over the years. I've worked in IT healthcare, it's where I started my career. I've also worked in a lot of other IT sectors and, while the issues you highlight are true in all those sectors, they are particularly painful in healthcare! What is depressing is this was the situation in the UK in 1990 - and it appears to have not improved.
I think the key thing that you highlight is that anyone who is purchasing an IT system in healthcare needs to go to their IT department first. Before it is purchased! The hospital IT department are the experts in making such systems work and integrating it with all the other systems. An IT system that does neither of these things is an expensive waste of space.
The next people they should talk to is IT governance as any system that does not meet the regs is again an expensive waste of space.
The final key thing, and in my experience this is absolutley vital but often ignored , is to engage with whoever is supposed to use the system, put the information in and use it day to day. I've seen systems put in which fail because there is nothing to help the nurses do their job, they have too much to do and piddling about with yet another new IT system is not going to win over caring for the patient.
Many thanks for compiling the booklet which should be a must read before anyone embarks on an "IT" project for their healthcare department and the checklist should prompt any amount of head scratching. However I genuinely believe these shouldn't be IT projects.
IT is just another tool to help us do our stuff more efficiently and effectively and projects such as these should preferably be led by someone in the department which also has the benefit of conferring ownership. It helps avoid the usual cries of what "IT have done to us" (again).
The department might want to enlist a project manager from the IT department, after all it's what they do in managing change. Perhaps there's one thing which was touched on in the comments and could be added to your checklist which is "understand the project requirements and scope" (ok two things).
All projects suffer from some lack of understanding of these two vital aspects and thus expectations of what a project will deliver. Nailing these two and managing them ongoing will pay huge dividends in the end.
As someone who experienced a full EPR install that was touted as the bees-knees, the ludicrous amount of paper document record keeping we needed to keep tabs on the fudged work-arounds and massive holes we found, just for ultrasound work loads was outrageous.
I cannot imagine just how insane it must have been for other departments. The frayed tempers were palpable.
Your cartoons are spot on and very funny.
Sorry for the long response but you triggered a lot of frustration I've had over the years. I've worked in IT healthcare, it's where I started my career. I've also worked in a lot of other IT sectors and, while the issues you highlight are true in all those sectors, they are particularly painful in healthcare! What is depressing is this was the situation in the UK in 1990 - and it appears to have not improved.
I think the key thing that you highlight is that anyone who is purchasing an IT system in healthcare needs to go to their IT department first. Before it is purchased! The hospital IT department are the experts in making such systems work and integrating it with all the other systems. An IT system that does neither of these things is an expensive waste of space.
The next people they should talk to is IT governance as any system that does not meet the regs is again an expensive waste of space.
The final key thing, and in my experience this is absolutley vital but often ignored , is to engage with whoever is supposed to use the system, put the information in and use it day to day. I've seen systems put in which fail because there is nothing to help the nurses do their job, they have too much to do and piddling about with yet another new IT system is not going to win over caring for the patient.
Again, sorry this comment is so long!
I don't work in healthcare, but every single thing you wrote and every cartoon is 100% relevant for my business too.
thanks! and yes, I think these are general issues. That happen over and over again :-(