NURS 5051/NURS 6051: Transforming Nursing and Healthcare Through Technology

NURS 5051/NURS 6051: Transforming Nursing and Healthcare Through Technology

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.

 

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Discussion:  Transforming Nursing and Healthcare Through Technology

Nurses play a monumental role in Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC). According to Hubner et al. (2019), nurses should be included in every step of the SDLC since their exclusion will have dire consequences. This paper explores the roles of a nurse in systems development and the consequences of excluding them from the process.

The SDLC comprises five broad steps where a nurse plays a unique role in each phase. In the planning and requirements definition phase, the nurse assesses the current systems and their challenges and gets feedback from the other nursing professionals. Moreover, the nurse will review the systems available in the market and consults the experts about the implementability of the system from scratch. The nurse will then create a financial plan and draft an outline of options available for the team. The analysis face showcases the salient features of the system and its efficiency. The nurse will schedule interviews with the nursing profession to pinpoint the existing system’s shortcomings. Eventually, the information assessed previously will be examined to develop a plan for the new system design (Wang et al., 2019).

In designing the new system, the nurse will critically analyze the requirements and the financial plan to decide whether the system will be bought or an existing solution can be purchased from a vendor. Additionally, the nurses will assess the requirements and technical capabilities of the team to ensure that the appropriate hardware is propped up. Afterward, the nurse will oversee the transition from the old system to the new one. Here, the nurse will ensure seamless transfer of crucial documents and information such as patient data to the new system. Also, the nurse will help other nursing staff adjust to the new system, facilitating training sessions with software experts (Hubner et al., 2018).

Ultimately, the nurse will ensure that the new system works as intended in the post-implementation phase. Further, besides overseeing the updates and their successful installation, the nurse will help in ameliorating issues connected to the system ( Ehrler et al .,2019)

Excluding nurses from the implementation of the system will have dire repercussions. Failing to engage nurses from the system’s inception will imply that they will interact with the system during its implementation. Thus, they will have little or no time to interact with its operation. This move will disconnect nurses from the system and cause resentment and system failure (Wang et al.,2019).

References

Hübner, U., Shaw, T., Thye, J., Egbert, N., Marin, H. F., Chang, P., O’Connor, S., Day, K., Honey, M., Blake, R., Hovenga, E., Skiba, D., & Ball, M. J. (2018). Technology Informatics Guiding Education Reform – TIGER. Methods of information in medicine, 57(S 01), e30–e42. https://doi.org/10.3414/ME17-01-0155

Wang, J., Gephart, S. M., Mallow, J., & Bakken, S. (2019). Models of collaboration and dissemination for nursing informatics innovations in the 21st century. Nursing Outlook, 67(4), 419–432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.outlook.2019.02.003

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. NURS 5051/NURS 6051: Transforming Nursing and Healthcare Through Technology