The Role of the Nurse Informaticist in Systems Development and Implementation
The advancements in technology and the integration of technology in healthcare to increase efficiency and improve patient safety have resulted in additional roles for nurses in the informatics field (Risling, 2017). In systems development and implementation, nurses should be involved in the entire process as they are critical to the success of the system. Systems development aims to provide a solution to an existing problem and who is better to offer the link between the developers and the healthcare facility other than the nurse informaticist? The nurses are the majority in the healthcare workforce and spending the most time with patients will better understand the issues they face and how they would like solutions implemented. Involving nurses will result in better outcomes for the system implementation and the patients.
The Systems Development Life Cycle
The Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) comprises several steps and the nurse leader should be involved in all these steps. The nurse leader will not only be providing ideas, but they will also offer details on the scope of the problem. In the development of a system for supporting nursing documentation, there will be five major steps involved namely planning and requirements definition, analysis, design, implementation, and post-implementation support (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). The nurse leader should be involved in every step to increase the success of the system as they are well informed and they understand what...
During the development, a nurse leader will identify any workflow issues and communicate them immediately to the developers saving critical development time.
Planning and Requirements Definition
The planning stage is the most vital in SDLC for ensuring a high chance of success in the system being developed (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). The nurse leader will be responsible for providing a healthcare plan to the system developers in SDLC. In conjunction with other nurses, the nurse leader will determine the scope of the problem and the solutions to the problems. This is then communicated to the system developers by the nurse leader as he or she is the liaison between the nurses and the developers. The information provided by the nurse leader will be used to plan the best method for developing the system. The system requirements will be identified...
…new system should be identified by the nurse leader and he or she should formulate a plan for overcoming these barriers. Each process will be evaluated once completed to ensure it meets the system requirements and modifications can be requested at this stage (Collins, Yen, Phillips, & Kennedy, 2017).
Post-Implementation Support
Before the system is delivered it should be thoroughly tested to ensure it meets the requirements of the users. The nurse leader should check to ensure the outputs of the system are as expected. In case of any issues, they should be rectified before the system is delivered. The nurse leader will be responsible for organizing training to educate nurses on the system and how to use the system. The system integration process will be overseen by the nurse leader. System maintenance will be communicated to the developers by the nurse leader.
There might be a few challenges when it comes to developing a new system and the nurse leader should understand these challenges and focus on achieving the requirements of the system. The nurse leader should ensure there is adequacy in the nursing processes required by the new system. Other nurses should be involved…
