Implementing BC-MAR For Closed Loop Medication Administration In A Critical Access Hospital Essay.

You are the Health Information Manager at a 25 bed critical access hospital. You wear many hats at this organization and currently oversee all HIM Department functions (coding, transcription, document imaging, etc.), the management, maintenance and nimplementation of the EHR and privacy & security. The organization has been sequentially implementing and adopting their  Best of-fit EHR in a modular fashion (similar to the HIMSS ElectronicMedical Record Adoption Model

http://www.himssanalytics.org/emram/emram.aspx).

One of the organization’s goals is to improve quality through benchmarking with similar organizations and their strategic HIT imperative is to improve patient safety with a closed loop medication administration.

Among the modules that have been implemented, CPOE has been fully implemented and adopted by physicians. You are now charged with the implementation and adoption of the BC-MAR module for the EHR system in order to meet the organization’s goals and their closed loop medication administration HIT goal.  

The organization has 5 nurses that perform and record medication administration. In preparation for adopting a BC-MAR system, you asked the nurses to map the current process as shown in the figure below.

To show variation among the nurses, each variation was numbered. These numbers do not coincide with a given nurse. Instead, if there were three variations among the five nurses, the three variations were numbered 1, 2, and 3 respectively. If each of the five nurses did something different, there were 5 variations illustrated.

Planning for BC-MAR Implementation

i). The first step that the manager should take in planning is to involve key non-IT executives and managers in the process. The manager should make sure that he involves the key people throughout the planning process. Sometimes they make decisions without involving the individuals who should be involved in the process. In order for the plan to succeed, it is necessary to involve the right people.

ii). Speaking business language. The discussions that are held in the planning process should be in the language of business. The manager should ensure that he speaks a language that is associated to his business  (Blaxter, 2010). He should also ensure that the stakeholders get what he speaks in order to arrive at the desired results.

iii) Define, evaluate, and present alternatives. The manager should presents alternatives to the executives in his planning process. The action would help ensure that they arrive at the right decisions. The manager should be ready to share the alternatives that he has with the executives. This will also help them work together with him in the planning process.

 1. Engage design consultants. The project manager should involve the design consultants so that they may tell him how to go about the project. He should involve them in the activities that he is undertaking so that he gets to know the way forward.

1. Prepare the design management plan. The project manager should also prepare the management plan so that he may know what to do next. The plan will help him carry out his activities easily.

• Identify design risks. The project manager should also identify the risks that the design will have. He should do this so that he may know how he will carry on with the process.

1. The first step for the selection process would be to identify the decision makers. It would be advisable for the project manager to first identify the decision makers so that they may bring out the desired outcomes in the hospital. This will also prevent delayed implementation process and enhance BC-MAR system selection.
2. The project manager should also clarify the goals. He should ensure that the goals of the organization are clear so that he may enhance the selection process.

• Determine requirements. The project manager should determine the clinical and administrative needs in the organization. The action would enhance him to make it possible to facilitate the selection process.

1. The first step for the project manager is to establish the objective. The manager should know the objective of what he wants to implement. He should set the right implementation process objectives so that it may be easy for him to achieve that goal.
2. Plan process implementation. The project manager should then plan the process implementation so that he may know how to go about the process. He needs to set a proper plan that will guide him implement the information systems in the healthcare institution.

• The third step in the implementation process is to execute the process. The project manager should ensure that he puts the process in practice. He should execute the process in the healthcare institution so that it may become successful. The action would ensure that he carries out the implementation activity successfully’

1. The first step that the manager should take is to select the process integration team members. He should select the individuals who will take part in the integration process. The action would make it easy for the manager to undergo process integration without a lot of difficulties.
2. The second step in the process would be selecting BC-MAR process to be integrated. The manager should select what he wants to integrate so that he may do it easily (Marsch et al, 2015). He should know what he wants to integrate in the healthcare institution so that he may do it with ease.

• The third step would be listing the scenario of the process to be integrated. The project manager should ensure that he lists the scenario of the process he wants to integrate. He should be prepared to know what the integration process would entail. The process manager would do this to ensure that he does not have difficulties in carrying out the process.

i). The first step that the project manager should take in BC-MAR testing would be the creation of the system test plan. The plan would help him know how to go ahead with his activities. He should have a plan before he begins the testing activity so that he may outline how he will carry out the process.

ii). The other step that the project manager should take is the creation of system test cases. He should create the cases involved in the testing activity so that he may carry out the process with ease (Augusto, 2012). He should have the cases to be tested so that it would be easy for him to carry out the process.

iii). The third step that the project manager should take is the creation of test data for system testing. The data would help him carry out the testing activity easily. It is necessary for the project manager to create the test data that will guide him throughout the process (Sharkey et al, 2007). The data would enable him know how he will do the testing process without a lot of strain.

Speaking Business Language in Planning

i). The first step that the project manager should take in the evaluation process is to develop an evaluation team. The team will help him to carry out the evaluation process.

ii) The second step that the manager should take is to identify the performance measures. The project manager should identify the measures of performance in the evaluation process.

iii). The other step that the project manager should take is to set guidelines for feedback. The project manager should know how to get the feedback after evaluation.

i). The first step in system support is planning. The project manager should plan how he will carry out the maintenance process.

ii). The second step in system support involves the analyses. The project manager will work out the need for change or the source of any problem that may arise.

iii). The other step in the maintenance process is system design. The project manager should implement the system design in his efforts to enhance support.

The medication administration workflow diagram shows how medication is given to patients who visit a healthcare institution. The diagram compares with the other one in the sense that they both indicate the medication process that takes place. The two show how the healthcare staff uses the available facilities to discharge their duties and ensure that they attend to the patients in the right manner. They show how BC-MAR is applied in hospitals to ensure that the patients acquire the right medication that they require (Richins, 2015). They also show how the medical professionals can apply technology in healthcare so that they may get the best results. The medical administration diagram helps in showing how medicine is given to patients who go through the medical process that is required. The potential workflow described in BC-MAR shows how medication is administered in small hospitals. The papers describes how patients in small hospitals use HIT to advance treatment to the patients. The health information technology will also be applied more in the future as the technological advancements increase. Both the topic and the diagram indicate the use of HIT in ensuring that the patients get the best medical care in the hospitals where they go to seek treatment.

The hospitals can meet their strategic goals by using BC-MAR in various ways.

One way of using the system is by applying information technology to give medical care to the patients. The hospitals can meet their strategic goals in the health institutions if they may apply the latest developments in information technology (Spekowius & Wendler, 2007) . The health professionals can use the technology that emerges to meet their strategic goals in the provision of health care. BC-MAR would help the professionals acquire the latest developments that come with technology. BC-MAR also helps the medical professionals to plan. The health care givers can plan for any changes in the future and make the necessary adjustments. The system enables the hospitals to also plan for what they will accomplish within a given time frame (Duplaga & Zielin?ski, 2006). For instance, they can plan what they will achieve within one year. BC-MAR helps the medical professional to organize their duties within a specific period of time. They can do various activities in a given time period that would help them attain much within a short time and achieve the desired patient outcomes. The system enables the health professionals to learn how they can implement their strategic objectives. They can learn from the system the best ways in which they can works hard towards achieving the set goals. The health professionals learn form the system the ways in which they can implement their goals with ease. BC-MAR acts as a quick method of learning to be used by the health professional.