Project Management Part II: What Works in Nursing Informatics?
We've talked about the
basics of project management now let's talk about what makes for a successful healthcare information system/clinical information systems project ... Or ,"what works?"
The Project Manager
As I wrote in Project Management Part I - The project manager is more than a manager of the numerous tasks that make up a healthcare information systems project. He/she has ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the project is managed well.
An experienced project manager works with project team members to ensure a successful, on time and within budget go live. He/she demonstrates knowledge of project management methodology, organizational skills; possess strong group facilitation skills, provides direction and support for decision making; enables timely and effective communication among project stakeholders.
The Project Charter
An underutilized tool, the project charter, is the first step of project planning. The project charter defines the approach, objectives and scope of the work to be completed. The charter is a critical element for initiating, controlling, planning, executing and assessing the project. It should be utilized as the single point of reference for project scope, objectives, goals, resource estimation and work plan. In addition, it serves as the written agreement among the project work groups, stakeholders, project champion(s) and project sponsors, outlining what will be delivered according to the scope, project assumptions, time constraints, budget and requirements agreed upon for the project.
Utilized in the way a cook follows a recipe or a sailor employs a compass, the project plan is referenced to obtain a high-level overview, to accent details, remind us of what the project is about, what the originally agreed upon methodology is, why it is being implemented and to continue to steer the charted course.
Not Your Mother's IT/IS Project
Today's successful clinical information systems projects have in common executive leadership who (early on during the project initiation phase) stresses the importance of the project being identified as a clinical initiative NOT an IT project. Ownership of the project is given to clinical stakeholders by reinforcing the fact that this is NOT an IT/IS project but instead a "clinical initiative" with interdisciplinary participation, led by clinicians, to improve and support clinical practice and patient care delivery.
Having Some Skin in the Game
In addition to leadership empowering clinical stakeholders to take ownership of the project, a well-planned project includes identified success metrics not just organizational business goals. Metrics can be used (post project) to evaluate the success of the implementation. Success metrics go beyond the traditionally identified business and strategic goals and objectives. An example of a strategic goal is: "Improving safety, efficiency and quality of patient care, and services." Success metrics on the other hand come from those who have a stake (stakeholders) in the successful outcome of the project. Success metrics are specific and measureable. Since the project is a clinical initiative, led by clinicians the success metrics should come from the clinical stakeholders thereby giving them some skin in the game. An example of a success metric is: Improved safety, efficiency and quality of patient care, and services as demonstrated by:
- Decreased prescribing and transcription errors (from Pharmacy, Medical Practice and Nursing)
- Increased legibility of orders and documentation (from HIM, Nursing, Pharmacy and QI)
- Improved compliance in timely signing and dating of orders (from Medical Practice, Nursing, HIM, Pharmacy and QI)
Next: Project Management -Part III What Works (Continued)