Susan Houston – författare

Nurses are constantly involved with projects; staff nurses develop plans of care, nurse managers determine projected staffing patterns, staff development instructors create courses, informatics nurses implement software applications. The project management process can be utilized to facilitate these and many other nursing projects.

Project Management for Healthcare Informatics will provide an explanation of the project management process tailored for nurses through its use of real clinical examples. In the first chapters, the project management process will be described in detail along with its relationship to the phases of the project life cycle. The tools available to successfully complete each phase of the project management process and move along the project life cycle will be included. The rest of the book will be devoted to discussion on how to apply these principles in the day-to-day work of the nurse—whether manager, staff nurse, educator, researcher, or informatician. Case studies and project examples will comprise the majority of material in these chapters.

Many books on project management exist, ranging from college text books to handbooks for the practicing project manager. No books, however, are specifically focused on project management for nurses. Project Management for Healthcare Informatics will fill this gap. This book will serve as a text for nurses who want to become knowledgeable in project management and/or as a reference to those nurses actually managing real world healthcare projects.

The rapid growth of software applications within healthcare organizations has made it essential to have defined methodologies and formal processes for the management of the entire Information Technology (IT) portfolio. Utilizing a portfolio management framework throughout an application’s lifecycle will provide the necessary structure to ensure that all new applications are properly evaluated, and, once implemented, remain relevant while continuing to meet organizational requirements.

While an organization may have a few large "organization-wide" systems such as the Electronic Health Record (EHR), lab or radiology systems, they also have a large quantity of other clinical, administrative, and research systems. Some larger organizations now have hundreds of software applications to support and manage. The IT staff must be able to implement new requests while still maintaining the current application portfolio. Utilizing a standard repeatable process will help to manage these large portfolios of software applications.

This book reviews the management of applications throughout their lifecycle, from initial request through disposition. Best practices dictate that every newly requested application undergoes analysis followed by an approval decision from the organization’s governance committee. The initial implementation project must include activities to prepare for ongoing support while ensuring the application is compliant with all security, privacy, and architecture requirements. An application spends years in operations and maintenance where changes occur regularly through configuration and release management, or additional projects. The cycle continues until disposition. Understanding when to dispose of an application is just as important as deciding when to implement a new one. A defined process for disposing of an application ensures all parts are properly removed or destroyed.

The rapid growth of software applications within healthcare organizations has made it essential to have defined methodologies and formal processes for the management of the entire Information Technology (IT) portfolio. Utilizing a portfolio management framework throughout an application’s lifecycle will provide the necessary structure to ensure that all new applications are properly evaluated, and, once implemented, remain relevant while continuing to meet organizational requirements.

While an organization may have a few large "organization-wide" systems such as the Electronic Health Record (EHR), lab or radiology systems, they also have a large quantity of other clinical, administrative, and research systems. Some larger organizations now have hundreds of software applications to support and manage. The IT staff must be able to implement new requests while still maintaining the current application portfolio. Utilizing a standard repeatable process will help to manage these large portfolios of software applications.

This book reviews the management of applications throughout their lifecycle, from initial request through disposition. Best practices dictate that every newly requested application undergoes analysis followed by an approval decision from the organization’s governance committee. The initial implementation project must include activities to prepare for ongoing support while ensuring the application is compliant with all security, privacy, and architecture requirements. An application spends years in operations and maintenance where changes occur regularly through configuration and release management, or additional projects. The cycle continues until disposition. Understanding when to dispose of an application is just as important as deciding when to implement a new one. A defined process for disposing of an application ensures all parts are properly removed or destroyed.