NURS FPX 6416 Assessment 2 Technology Needs Assessment Summary and Implementation Plan

Student Name

Capella University

NURS-FPX 6416 Managing the Nursing Informatics Life Cycle

Prof. Name

Date

Technology Needs Assessment Summary and Implementation Plan

Healthcare technology plays a crucial role in medical equipment, significantly enhancing the quality and effectiveness of treatments while also influencing hospitals’ financial performance (Anderson & Casadei, 2021). This analysis primarily focuses on change management strategies, summarizes essential information system changes, presents the outcomes of a needs assessment meeting, and offers a comprehensive implementation plan for project management. The plan includes specific objectives, measurable progress indicators, key stakeholders, and a timeline.

Patient Safety and Healthcare Outcome Benefits

Illustrated within the context of heart failure, the value of remote patient monitoring becomes evident. Heart failure affects approximately 5.8 million individuals in the United States, with high hospitalization, readmission, mortality rates, and healthcare costs (Ong et al., 2018). Inadequate post-acute surveillance can lead to increased healthcare resource utilization due to readmissions or deteriorating patient health. Remote patient monitoring technologies offer cost-effective solutions for addressing financial sustainability concerns and enhancing patient acceptance of home-based care (Ong et al., 2018). Furthermore, Lee and Holland-Hall (2021) argue that patient portals enable patients to communicate with their healthcare providers, exchange information, and establish trust between appointments.

Changes to Organizational Information Systems

A needs assessment meeting involving nurses and healthcare professionals identified challenges within Vila Health’s existing information system. Concerns were raised about patient health being jeopardized post-discharge due to a lack of monitoring, particularly for patients with diabetes who require continuous symptom and blood sugar level tracking but find frequent hospital visits impractical. Adopting remote patient monitoring technology would not only benefit patients unable to visit regularly but also empower nurses to easily monitor their patients’ health. Patient portals facilitate communication with healthcare providers, appointment scheduling, and access to medical history and prescriptions from anywhere with internet access.

Comprehensive Project Management Implementation Plan

Goals and Milestones

As the project manager overseeing Vila Health’s information system overhaul, the implementation of remote patient monitoring equipment and user-friendly patient portals are key objectives. These technologies enable better post-discharge patient monitoring, leading to increased revenue, reduced staff burden, enhanced patient engagement, and improved health outcomes through patient portal utilization.

Process, Stakeholders, and Timeline

Several stakeholders, including the IT department, nurse informaticists, Vila Health administration, nurses, and other healthcare staff, will play pivotal roles in the RPM and patient portal rollout. The integration of patient portals and RPM technologies, along with staff training, may take up to six months for the IT department to complete. Nurse informaticists will serve as intermediaries between nurses, doctors, and the IT department. Following three months of training, a trial period will commence, during which patients will be educated on RPM and patient portal usage.

Relevant Change Management Strategies

The adoption of Kurt Lewin’s three-stage change model will facilitate the technological transition. Lewin’s model comprises the unfreeze, change, and refreeze phases (Hussain et al., 2018). Initially, all relevant stakeholders must be aligned with the technology transformation proposal and understand its implications. Subsequently, the new system will be implemented, followed by organizational refreezing to ensure continued utilization of the new system and its associated technologies.

Conclusion

The integration of patient portals and remote patient monitoring enhances access to high-quality, cost-efficient medical treatment, streamlining and standardizing healthcare delivery for both patients and healthcare providers. Collaboration with specialists from Virtual Visits and the incorporation of innovative technologies have made remote monitoring of chronic patients more effective. The integration of RPM and patient portals offers numerous benefits, including increased patient satisfaction, engagement, 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. 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.2018.771

NURS FPX 6416 Assessment 2 Technology Needs Assessment Summary and Implementation Plan