Healthcare Informatics Resources

Shouldn’t project managers manage? Take accountability and ownership and decision-making? What happens when the project manager doesn’t take ownership? Things begin to fall apart. As part of an implementation team for an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system, I am finding that there are many questions and not enough answers. The facility where I work is currently piece-mealing an EHR and it seems that every time we turn around, there is a new glitch. We are currently implementing several systems that don’t seem to interface with each other. Not all staff had being included in the original education and now we are back pedaling to get them educated. Every one in the facility should be taught how to use this system, and that should have been a project managers decision. Alas, it was not and now we are scrambling to educate staff on the nuances of a system that we are only just learning how to use. Caution with the EHR, it can be painful and not just because humans hate change.

Original Post
June 1, 2009
Title: Project Managers – Managing Projects
The project manager must know what the project is, what it is suppose to accomplish, and the time frame it in which should be accomplished in. They must also be aware of the budgetary constraints. The project manager needs to form a team to work on the project with. Each team, and team member, must be aware of his or her responsibility to the team and the project. They must know goals and expectations. To be successful, the project manager must be able to delegate tasks. The project should be broken down in parts and each part be given to the team best suited for completion of that task. In project managements they must be lots of communication. The project manager must be able to communicate with the team (s), individually and as groups. There must be regular scheduled meetings to gage and monitor progress, and to feed back to the stakeholders the progress of the project. These meeting should also include the vendors and the clients of the project and where necessary the end-users. The project manager should keep clear documentation on the progress of the project, to ensure the stakeholders are kept up to date with the progress of the project. This documentation should show any problems encountered during the implementation process, what steps were taken to fix the problem or any changes that were made, and the rational behind the changes. Regular progress reports, and information sharing are essential to good project management and project completion.

Tags: Healthcare Informatics, Healthcare Informatics Resources, Health Care Informatics Project Management

In order for a project to be successfully implemented on the go live date, it requires good planning and adequate resources. A good project manager is a must and well as great team members. The project manager will be required to orchestrate the implementation on the systems application, much like the conductor of a big band, the horns, drums, piano, violins, must enter at the right moments, but, before the big show there must be practice and sound test. When implementing a new system or upgrading an existing one, there must be prior preparation. Meetings must be held to notify the stakeholders and end users of the product, informing them about the product, why it was chosen, the goals and expectations, and their role in the final outcome. Who will be the main players? What are the expect goals and outcomes? What will be the team make up? The other systems vendors the new product will interface with will need to be informed to ensure a smooth integration of all the elements. The new language will have to be converted to a language that will be understood by the existing applications, and translated back to the language of the new application. The new system must be tested along with the current systems. The new system must not just function correctly on it’s on, but must also function in harmony with the existing systems. The new and existing systems must communicate with each other. Any quirks must be fixed ahead of the go live. Included in the implementation of the new system, is how it will be used, who will be using it, and how to use it. Teaching plans must also be set in motion. After all, what good is a new system, successfully installed, if the end user cannot use it, and does not know why it was implemented in the first place?

Technorati Tags: Healthcare Informatics, Healthcare Informatics Resources, Project Management

The project manager must know what the project is, what it is suppose to accomplish, and the time frame it in which should be accomplished in. They must also be aware of the budgetary constraints. The project manager needs to form a team to work on the project with. Each team, and team member, must be aware of his or her responsibility to the team and the project. They must know goals and expectations. To be successful, the project manager must be able to delegate tasks. The project should be broken down in parts and each part be given to the team best suited for completion of that task. In project managements they must be lots of communication. The project manager must be able to communicate with the team (s), individually and as groups. There must be regular scheduled meetings to gage and monitor progress, and to feed back to the stakeholders the progress of the project. These meeting should also include the vendors and the clients of the project and where necessary the end-users. The project manager should keep clear documentation on the progress of the project, to ensure the stakeholders are kept up to date with the progress of the project. This documentation should show any problems encountered during the implementation process, what steps were taken to fix the problem or any changes that were made, and the rational behind the changes. Regular progress reports, and information sharing are essential to good project management and project completion.

Technorati Tags: Healthcare Informatics, Healthcare Informatics Resources, Project Management