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)
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
The SDLC is similar to the nursing process. The stages include analyzing, designing, implementing, testing, and maintaining. Potential problems in each stage are as follows:
Analysis: During this phase, the team analyzes the needs of the end user to ensure the
system meets their expectations (Innovative Architects, n.d.). Nurse should be included during this phase in order to ensure an appropriate timeline for completion of the project, and to make sure that the team is focusing on the needs/requirements of the organization.
Design: This phase describes in detail the necessary specifications, features, and operations that will satisfy the functional requirements of the proposed system (Innovative Architects). During this phase, it is easy for members of the design team to put what they think is necessary, which can be totally opposite of what is actually needed. The nurse can ensure during this stage that “features and operations that will satisfy the functional requirements of the proposed system” (Innovative Architects).
Implementing: The implementation phase brings the design to life. No program is perfect, and it is during this phase that team members offer feedback on how to correct imperfections.
In the article The Critical Nature of Early Nursing Involvement for Introducing New Technologies,Weckman and Janzen state that during “implementation of the BCMA system revealed how complicated a relatively simple-looking task, such as scanning a wristband, can be” (2009). The nurse investigated the challenge and were able to find a solution.
Test: It is determined during this phase if the system performs appropriately for the user, doing what it needs to do in order for the user to do their job.
Maintain: “Once the system is finalized, it must be maintained” (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). Users are able to fine-tune the system to boost performance or add new capabilities if they wish. Because the nurses will be the using the systems most, they should be involved in this phase. Once the system is in place and functioning, nurses may find that there are certain aspects missing or too many included that is not necessary for their specific needs. This phase allows the team to fine-tune the system to customize it to their needs.
Innovative Architects. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.innovativearchitects.com/KnowledgeCenter/basic-IT-systems/system-development-life-cycle.aspx
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2017). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning
Weckman, H., Janzen, S., (May 31, 2009) “The Critical Nature of Early Nursing Involvement for Introducing New Technologies” OJIN: The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, Vol. 14, No. 2, Manuscript 2.
