Objectives
This project allows for research coupled with the use of the theories discussed in class and in the diverse course materials. Please select a topic that is of great interest to you. Your role is to understand the nature of the opportunity and discuss several alternative solutions. You are then going to select, based on your analysis, the recommended solution and its associated implementation issues.
General Guidelines: Given a business scenario that requires the use of healthcare information technology, analyze, evaluate, and recommend a healthcare application systems solution. Such solutions include but are not limited to: electronic medical records, patient care systems, patient monitoring systems, pharmacy systems, imaging solutions, physician practices, laboratory systems, surgical information systems, and clinical decision support/decision-making systems.
Course Project Paper Requirements
Your final (comprehensive) Research Project paper must include the following sections:
1. Title Page and Abstract (5 points)
A title page should include the research project topic, author, and date. The abstract must provide a summary of the paper, including the business challenge, major issues, recommended solution, and business benefits. The summary should cover the items identified in Appendix A: Strategic Management Grid.
o When preparing to write your abstract, remember an abstract is a brief summary (between 150-250 words) of the paper, allowing readers to quickly review the main points and purpose of the paper. It tends to be the last item written for the paper.
2. Statement of the Business Scenario (15 points)
This section includes a concise statement of the major problems, issues, or opportunities that you are investigating as they relate to the business scenario. A business scenario can relate to your personal work surroundings. For example, if you are a nurse working on a unit or in the emergency department, think about the area you work in and challenges that occur with patient care that could be addressed by using healthcare technology.
o Example – Healthcare XYZ is dealing with medication errors and they want to implement Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) to resolve this issue….. In this section you will want to describe the business (healthcare organization) organization, the issue and how you will resolve that issue through using healthcare technology.
o Please note that utilizing Electronic Medical Records (EMR) or Electronic Health Records (EHR) as the healthcare technology is too broad for this research project. However, utilizing components of Electronic Medical Records or Electronic Health Records are appropriate. Some examples of Electronic Medical Records or Electronic Health Records include Scheduling, Registration Medication Reconciliation, Surgery, Emergency, Lab, etc.
3. Analysis of the Organizations and Business Processes (35 points)
This section should provide a detailed analysis of the causes of the problems, issues, or opportunities identified in the business scenario that you have chosen. In this section your objective is to clearly illustrate the knowledge you have gained in this class and reference course concepts and research to understand and solve the problem studied. In this section you should include issues with your business scenario’s organizational/departmental management, organizational/department structure, and current utilizing of information technology.
o When reviewing your organization you may want to perform a mini SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to assist you in developing this section of your paper. Please refer to online references to utilize SWOT analysis.
o What are the main policies and procedures utilized to run the department you work in? What are the inner workings of how things are organized and run? What are some work flow analyses of some of the procedural flows?
4. Analysis of the Requirements for a Solution to the Business Scenario (35 points)
This section should provide a detailed analysis of the inputs (data that you would enter into a computer system), processes (are there alerts in place based on the data that was entered into the system do tasks alert providers of functions they need to perform on the patient based on data entered) and outputs (reports) for the information system solution you have chosen. You must come up with values for the weighted objectives to assist in assessing how the organization is going to choose one of the three vendor options. For example an organization may consider the objectives of; the cost of the system, customer service provided by the vendor of the system, and compatibility with other systems in their decision making process. A comparison will be done between the systems as a component of your final project.
o At this point in your paper you will need to identify how the organization will compare viable vendor solutions to resolve their issue. What are must haves for the organization (see appendix A sample in doc sharing) when choosing a vendor solution? You must explain and how the organization will rank each of the objectives and why they have determined that one objective is more important to the organization than the others. It can be helpful to consider the data that will be inputted into the system and the data that will be extracted (reports, studies, etc.).
5. Discussion of Healthcare Application System Solutions (35 points)
This section should indicate at least three possible solutions to the problems, issues, or opportunities. The advantages and disadvantages of each solution should be discussed against a set of weighted objectives, established in the previous section and supported from current literature. The results of the evaluation must be presented in Appendix B.
o You should be focusing on three viable solutions that could be utilized by the organization. Research the solutions and notate how solutions perform in business settings. How have other healthcare organizations utilized the solutions? Are they a trusted solution? What are some of the challenges the solution may have? How is the solution supported by the vendor?
6. Recommended Solution and Implementation Issues (30 points)
This section should recommend a solution to the problems, issues, or opportunities with justification for its selection, including the benefits. The potential implementation issues for this solution should be discussed and supported by current literature.
o Based on weighted objective and the organization’s needs, what is the recommended solution for this organization and why? What are areas of concern when planning out an implementation strategy?
7. References/Bibliography (10 points)
This section documents the sources used in the research report. At least 10 citations from at least seven resources must be included in APA style.
8. Appendices: Strategic Information Systems Grid, Comparison of Solutions (15 points)
This attachment includes a copy of the strategic information systems grid you developed during your research (Attachment A), as well as the comparison of solutions you considered (Attachment B).
Other requirements
The paper should be comprehensive and meet all project requirements as described. Your paper should be no longer than 13 double-spaced pages, not including the references and appendices pages.
The paper should be researched with no fewer than 10 citations from at least seven sources. Use APA style for references (see Writing the Research Paper: A Handbook (2003) by Winkler and McCuen).
