Technology Needs Assessment Summary and Implementation Plan
Healthcare technology is one of the most essential components of medical equipment. It enhances the effectiveness and quality of treatments. Furthermore, it impacts hospitals’ indirect profits (Anderson & Casadei, 2021). Change management strategies will be the primary focus of this analysis, along with a summary of the necessary information system change, the results of a needs assessment meeting, and a detailed implementation plan for project management that will include concrete objectives, measurable indicators of progress, key players, and a timeline.
NURS FPX 6416 Assessment 2 Technology Needs Assessment Summary and Implementation Plan
Patient Safety and Health Care Outcome Benefits
Using the context of heart failure, we can better understand the value of remote patient monitoring. Approximately 5.8 million people in the United States are affected by heart failure (HF), and this illness is linked to high rates of hospitalization, readmission, death, and healthcare expenditures (Ong et al., 2018). Disruptions in treatment and a lack of post-acute surveillance may lead to increased resource consumption for healthcare systems due to readmissions or increasing morbidity among patients with HF. The authors argue that remote patient monitoring technologies have the potential to provide more cost-effective solutions to the concerns of financial sustainability and home visit acceptance (Ong et al., 2018). Moreover, Lee and Holland-Hall (2021) argue that patients may utilize portals to communicate with their doctors in between appointments, exchange information, and establish trust.
Changes to an Organizational Information System
Nurses and other healthcare professionals were among the five people who participated in a needs assessment meeting to discuss the challenges they are encountering in the existing Vila Health information system. Attendees at the meeting voiced worry that patients’ health is being put at risk since no one is checking up on them after they have been discharged. According to the nurses, patients with diabetes need constant monitoring of their symptoms and blood sugar levels, but it is difficult for them to make frequent trips to the hospital. As a result, Vila Health should adopt a remote patient monitoring technology that could help patients who are unable to make regular trips, while also benefiting the nurses by allowing them to easily keep track of their patient’s health.
With the use of patient portals, patients may get in touch with their doctors, schedule appointments, and check up on their medical history and prescriptions from anywhere with access to the internet.
Comprehensive Project Management Implementation Plan
Goals and Milestones
Remote patient monitoring equipment and user-friendly patient portals are two technologies I want to implement as project manager for Vila Health’s information system overhaul. The personnel at Vila Health will be able to better monitor their patients after they have been discharged due to RPM and Patient Portals. Financial advantages include increased revenue, less staff burden, and more patient engagement, all of which contribute to improved health outcomes owing to the use of patient portals.
NURS FPX 6416 Assessment 2 Technology Needs Assessment Summary and Implementation Plan
Process, Stakeholders, and Timeline
The IT department, nurse informaticists at Vila Health, Vila Health administration, nurses, and other healthcare personnel will all play important roles in rolling out RPM and patient portals. It may take the IT department up to six months to fully integrate patient portals and RPM technologies and educate nurses and other healthcare practitioners on their usage. The nurse informaticist’s role is to relay staff concerns to the IT department on behalf of the nurses and doctors. After the first three months of training, a trial period will be commenced in which patients will be informed about RPM and patient portals and given guidance on how to make the most of them.
Relevant Change Management Strategies
This technological shift can be more easily implemented with the help of Kurt Lewin’s three-stage change model. Unfreeze, change, and refreeze are the three stages that make up Lewin’s theory of change (Hussain et al., 2018). The first phase, in accordance with Lewin’s theory of change, will be to get all the relevant stakeholders on board with the technology transformation proposal and make sure they understand what it entails for them. The next phase is to put the new system into place, after which the organization will refreeze and carry on utilizing the new system and its associated technologies.
Conclusion
Access to high-quality medical treatment that is also efficient in terms of cost is made easier, more streamlined, and more standardized for both patients and their treating physicians owing to the usage of patient portals and remote patient monitoring. With the assistance of specialists from Virtual Visits and the development of new technologies, the procedure of remote monitoring of chronic patients has been made more effective. It is possible that integrating RPM and a patient portal may result in a number of outcomes, some of which include an increase in the level of patient satisfaction, involvement, and communication.
NURS FPX 6416 Assessment 2 Technology Needs Assessment Summary and Implementation Plan
References
Anderson, M., & Casadei, B. (2021). Health information technology and digital innovation for national learning health and care systems. The Lancet Digital Health, 3(6), e383–e396. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2589-7500(21)00005-4
Hussain, S. T., Lei, S., Akram, T., Haider, M. J., Hussain, S. H., & Ali, M. (2018). Kurt Lewin’s change model: A critical review of the role of leadership and employee involvement in organizational change. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 3(3), 123–127. Science Direct.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2016.07.002
Lee, J. A., & Holland-Hall, C. (2021). Patient portals for the adolescent and young adult population: Benefits, risks and guidance for use. Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care, 51(11), 101101.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cppeds.2021.101101
Ong, M. K., Romano, P. S., Edgington, S., Aronow, H. U., Auerbach, A. D., Black, J. T., Marco, T. D., Escarce, J. J., Evangelista, L. S., Hanna, B., Ganiats, T. G., Greenberg, B. H., Greenfield, S., Kaplan, S. H., Kimchi, A., Liu, H., Lombardo, D., Mangione, C. M., Sadeghi, B., & Sadeghi, B. (2018). Effectiveness of Remote Patient monitoring after discharge of hospitalized patients with heart failure: The better effectiveness after Transition–Heart Failure (BEAT-HF) Randomized clinical trial. JAMA Internal Medicine, 176(3), 310–318.
https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2018.7712