Business

Business and User Requirements Document Draft

Gathering business and user requirements

To implement the EHRS system, some departments will be more involved than others. As such, they will be the most important sources of information for the planning stages. The first among these is the information and communications technology. Comment by Judy Johnson: That is not a department name. Not sure what you were trying to say here about it. That is the title for the class, instead.

The nursing department will also be crucial in collecting the information needed to determine business and user requirements. For nurses to be more efficient at doing their jobs, they need to have the backing of reliable and readily available information at their disposal. Since nursing care is such a core element in the providing of quality care, their needs and requirements will be useful to consider. In this department too is the medical staff, led by the Chief Medical Officer. The EHRS will be extensively used by the physicians to provide accurate information and to enter details of diagnosis, apart from other relevant information. As a result, their views should be considered as the hospital boards on the implementation of this system (Terry et al, 2008). Comment by Judy Johnson: Medical staff is not part of “nursing department.” Your sentence here seems to be saying it is part of nursing when you say, “in this department too…” Comment by Judy Johnson: Yes, this is correct.

The Health Information Management department is the most important of these departments in the implementation of the process. The department possesses unique expertise in the management of health information and is well aware of the regulations that such information should be managed with. As the custodians and managers of the information, the HIM department will be able to understand the particular needs of each of the other departments. The department is also heavily involved in billing as well, which the EHRS will view as one of the major operations in need of streamlining (Zeng, 2016). Comment by Judy Johnson: That is not actually the “most important” department. The clinical staff (physicians, nurses) have more hands-on with the EHR than other departments.

While the senior management of every function will be extensively involved in the project overview and implementation process, their subordinates also have an important role to play in ensuring that the project is a success. Within the operations department, for instance, the personnel in the laboratory, radiology, and pharmacy will be using the system, in collaboration with medical personnel such as the doctors and nurses. Their input will, therefore, be highly valued. Also important will be the business development officers, who will have information on what competitors are doing or using, and thereby provide information that will be used to make the same enhanced (Zeng, 2016).

List of business and user requirements for the project Comment by Judy Johnson: Title does not seem to fit with what is below. Your information gathering process is what is just below this heading.

The data collection process will be designed in a way which ensures that the information collected is reliable accurate and complete. As such, a combination of several data – collection techniques will be used, depending on the particular characteristics of the department. Interviews will be used to collect information from the senior management, since they are few, and time limitations do not allow for interviews with all potential suppliers of information. While interviews will be useful in giving the necessary information in a better way than questionnaires and other methods, they are costly to conduct, and will only be used carefully (Zeng, 2016). Comment by Judy Johnson: Yes, interviews can be time-consuming or costly. Making a poor decision on an EHR can be even more costly, though.

To better collect information from the end users of the system – the HIM department, physicians, and nurses, conveniently - timed focus groups will be deployed. The groups will be helpful in helping the potential users come up with further information that would not be captured in a survey, or an interview, due to the lack of interaction with other users.

Additionally, the use of focus groups will be amplified by the use of questionnaires, which will ensure that no information has been lost on the information collectors. After conducting the face to face interviews and focus group discussions, a meeting in which everyone is encouraged to attend will be held. During the meeting, additional views will be invited, as the findings are presented and members present air their opinions if contrary to what is proposed (Terry et al, 2008). Comment by Judy Johnson: How will you use these questionnaires? Who will be sent the questionnaires, what will be the topics?

Requirements to be met for project to address project overview needs

The cost of the system should be transparent and affordable. For instance, the cost of maintenance should be clearly spelled out, as well as other add-ons such as license agreements. The cost should be within the budget of the institution, to ensure smooth implementation.

The system should be able to leave a clear audit trail. Due to the sensitivity of health information, it is important to have a system that clearly shows who accessed the system, at what time, and what they viewed.

It should be easy to change from whatever old system is being used to the new one. For this to happen, the system will need to have a user – friendly design that all members of the hospital, regardless of their computer proficiency, can easily use. The system should also be well documented so that any bugs can be easily detected and eliminated. Comment by Judy Johnson: You are talking about the transition needs. Before thinking of that though, we need to specify what this system must DO. What are its functions? That is how we specify systems Requirements.

The system should be well secured. This is appreciative of the sensitivity of health information, and the need to ensure it from cyber breaches and attacks which might compromise the integrity of the information.

Due to the widespread use of such systems, whereby they are currently government policy in all American hospitals, it is important for the system to be easily integrated with other systems, and other IT solutions currently used by the hospital.

Server options should be specified. If possible, the server should be hosted on the hospital’s premises. This will ensure that the hospital has total authority over the system and that as a result, there is no possibility for jeopardizing the data that is stored within the system.

Since most of the users are not experts, the system should come with ample training opportunities for potential users. The training should be tailored to cover the relevant areas for each department and individual personnel.

The system should be well – versed in modern technology. For instance, the system should be enabled with instant sharing services such as text message. This should, however, be ensured to be secure and avoid unnecessarily compromising patient information.

References

Terry, A. L., Thorpe, C. F., Giles, G., Brown, J. B., Harris, S. B., Reid, G. J., Stewart, M. (2008). Implementing electronic health records: Key factors in primary care. Canadian Family Physician, 54(5), 730–736.

Zeng, X. (2016). The Impacts of Electronic Health Record Implementation on the Health Care Workforce. North Carolina Medical Journal , 77 (2), 112-114.