Project Description
In the interest of efficiency and efficacy in hospital delivery services, it is necessary for the units to adopt the current technology that would equip its personnel with the requisite techniques and conveniences. In that light, I propose for the Kent Hospital the adoption of integrated systems that would allow for the application of the Electronic Health Records Systems. Under the same, all records of the patients’ history and prevailing conditions in relation to their health would be captured in the database and accessible within seconds of clicking the necessary buttons. Indeed, in light of the controversial proposed health records systems, it is imperative to note that the proposed project does not go into embedding any electronic chips in the bodies of people. Instead, the proposed projects shall limit its record system to computer systems. In that breadth, the only manner in which the information shall be accessed is through express authorization by either the patient or the hospital administration. This in my considered view effectively addresses any confidentiality fears that users of the system would likely raise. In that context, this project should be appreciated for its attempts to bridge the gap in the digital divide in the nation. It attempts to bring public hospitals at par with the practice in private hospitals. In addition, it should be appreciated that in the long run, the project aims at ensuring that service is delivered to the consumers.
In brief, this project seeks to obtain new computers and related hardware devices and install software systems that would effectively enable the electronic records management of patients. In addition, the project seeks to expand the hospital personnel especially in regard to the information technology department as well as training the current personnel including physicians and nurses on the use of the electronic record systems. It is the expectation that the services would thereby improve towards efficiency and efficacy.
Agency Mission and Strategy Plans
Kent Public Hospital was initially founded with the aim of providing healthcare services to the community members in Ventura and indeed from the larger State of California. It has never wavered from this mission since its inception. In fact, what the hospital continues to undertake are principles and actions intended to actualize the initial aim of the hospital founders. It is on that premise that this project should be considered. It is a direct activity towards the realization of healthcare provision objective.
In addition, the project finds consistency with other objectives of the organization. It should be appreciated that the population in California continues to soar. As the population growth continues, it is unfortunate that the gap between the poor and the rich equally continues to widen. This can be partly attributed to the free enterprise systems in capitalism that has no regard for welfare systems. However, it must be noted that Kent Hospital is one of the few remaining instances of welfare systems. The public hospital undertakes to deliver quality healthcare to its consumers who are majorly the poor. The implementation of this project shall go deep into assisting the delivery of healthcare services to this segment of the society. Through organized electronic records, it shall be easy for the physicians and related personnel to track the health records of the patients they attend to and consequently advise and or administer treatment services within reasonable timeframes. This way the healthcare delivery would be efficient, faster and immediate and less costly in the long run. It is, therefore, my anticipation that this project shall contribute to the overall achievement of the organizational objectives. On that front, this project is consistent with the agency missions and overall strategy planning.
Project Team Personnel and the selection process
This project shall require a multifunctional personnel base. This is because while the bulk of the work falls under the information technology discipline and operations, the project equally requires the input of the medical personnel for which the platform is being implemented. In addition, the project shall need external and internal services which shall be briefly enumerated.
The selection process shall be based on contractual recruitment for the one time service and extend renewals of contracts for employees performing the recurrent functions in the project. The following are the personnel required and the functions for which they shall perform:
The Project Manager
This position shall be occupied by the project implementer. I shall take charge of the function. This is essentially because the project is my proposal and I have the advantage of having a good internalization of the project. In addition, it is essential for my presence to be retained at the top level because I have the urge and drive to have it implemented.
The Project Accountant
In the interest of the public, the project shall seek to minimize its expenditure to only what is necessary. For that reason, it is necessary to have a project accountant. The accountant shall be charged with the management of the funds allocated to the project. The accountant shall be recruited competitively through job interviews. The best candidate shall be picked and awarded a contract equal to the life of the project implementation (around five months). The accountant shall be in charge of all financial issues including accounting for the allocated funds and keeping complete and compliant books of account for the project.
Project Technicians
The project involves purchase of computers, their setup and installation of the relevant software. These functions shall be conducted by the project technicians. The technicians shall be recruited competitively from candidates proficient in information technology. In addition, the technicians shall conduct the orientation and education of the medical personnel on how to use the technology introduced.
Project Medical Personnel
The medical personnel for whom the system is being integrated for their consumption shall equally be part of the project. For them no recruitment shall be conducted for it shall be necessary that all medical personnel are trained in the use of the equipment. In addition, their feedback shall be critical in ensuring the project is designed to serve its intended purpose.
Project Administrator
This position shall be for purposes of overall coordination and assistance to the project manager. The administrator shall handle all on the site issues that arise during the currency of the project. He shall report directly to the project manager. The recruitment shall be competitive based on interviews with candidates with project management backgrounds having an added advantage.
NEPA and CEQA Requirements
Indeed, this project is developed in full appreciation and compliance with NEPA and CEQA requirements. The National Environmental Policy Act seeks to ensure at the national level that projects have little to no negative effects on the environment. The provisions should be seen to equally include matters concerning human safety and the habitation of the environment. In that vein, this project has considered the effects the technology gadgets and more specifically the computer machines could have on the environment. In that respect the project proposes an elaborate disposal system for the obsolete products. In fact, according to the proposed agreement, it would be necessary that the supplier company take back the obsolete and or broken down products and see to it that their subsequent disposal is in line with NEPA requirements as to environmental sustainability and safety.
Closer home, at the state level, this project has fully considered the California Environmental Quality Act and its related requirements. In that vein, I am pleased to report that the project understudy reveals that no significant impacts shall be occasioned by the project’s subsequent implementation. In that light, it can be considered compliant to the CEQA requirements. However, in addition to full compliance to the environment laws, the project has equally factored in issues of energy consumption, health effects of the radiation omitted by the computer devices, among others. It is the paper’s considered view that the applications used are of the least negative effects in the market. Equally essential to note is the project’s low consumption of energy. The computers to be used are known in the market for their lower consumption of energy. In addition, the project proposes that solar energy be used in the hospital in seeking to bridge the clean energy divide. However, as the situation stands, it is the paper’s considered opinion that electric energy from traditional sources such as hydroelectricity cannot be fully dispensed with.
Risk Management
The project falls under the relatively low risk areas. This is because the use of electronic medium for record keeping is relatively an old concept. Indeed, with the advent of the information technology platforms, some of the common uses of information technology include information storage and easy retrieval as and when required. The project merely imports the concept into public health records. However, it is essential to appreciate the challenges anticipated and the manner in which some of the risks would be addressed.
One critical risk is the complete failure of the system during and or after implementation. This risk is likely due to systemic failures. It is thus the express provision of the project that backup support be installed. In that vein, the project system would have a full backup that operates twenty four hours. This way any failure of the system that disturbs the operations shall temporarily occasion a transfer of operations from the main system to the backup system. This way, the systemic error can be corrected without stopping healthcare delivery that relies on the system.
Secondly, the risk of tapping healthcare information by data interceptors and unauthorized hackers exist. As it stands, this situation is difficult to contain given the technical capacities of hackers and data interceptors. In addition, the body of law that needs to prosecute and bring to account the villains is still nascent with responsible institutions remaining toothless and unable to act. In that vein, it is the paper’s considered view that the project be implemented with a cautionary approach. It is essential to retain the confidentiality of records and especially in light of the heavy reliance on electronic records by the economy in the larger America. In that respect a mere mismanagement of records of patients could be detrimental to the patients and the hospital. However, the paper has in place strong mechanisms that aim at protecting the system against illegal access and interception of data. In equal measure the technicians, medical personnel and other staff involved in the project shall be sufficiently briefed on the need for privacy and confidentially in view of the foregoing. Lastly, the patients shall also be given an opportunity to elect to have their data stored in the systems or not. For the ones who respond in the affirmative, the risks shall be communicated to them and documents availed to have them append their signatures to the agreement. This a risk contingency measure aimed at protecting the hospital against potential litigation from clients who may want to exploit the law to benefit from the already scarce public resources availed to the public hospital.
Budget and Financial Plan
The estimated budget is as contained in the following table:
Financial Plan
The project would be largely funded by government in the recognition of its role towards the provisions of healthcare that places more emphasis on the quality rather than the quantity. It is the paper’s considered opinion that the government funding be from both federal and state appropriations. Given the relatively huge budget, the federal government should fund at least 40% of the budgetary figure allocated to government with the state government providing the other 60%. In addition, the project would be partly funded by private entities and especially foundations and healthcare partners who share in the collective need to provide healthcare to the citizens falling in the lower social stratifications.
Project Schedule
The Project Schedule is as listed below
Activity One: Feasibility Study (Month One)
This is the Research and documentation stage. It equally involved the environmental study and reporting. In this stage, the project was analyzed and considered. The efficiencies versus the costs and related risks were considered. In addition, an environmental study was performed considering the NEPA and CEQA requirements. The phase also involved the interview, selection and recruitment of staff to work in the project. This phase was successfully completed and it is essential to observe that the project was considered feasible.
Activity Two: Purchase and Installation (Month Two)
This phase would involve the purchase and consequential installation of the computers and related accessories. It would involve formally signing the contract with the supplier company and entering into contracts with the technicians who were already identified in the prior phase. On the arrival of the equipment, they are installed and the backup is run. The stage equally involves the running of the two systems, the actual one and the backup and testing for the functionality.
Activity Three: Training and Orientation of Medical and Managerial Personnel (Month Three and Four)
This phase involves interaction with the medical personnel and managerial personnel. The medical personnel would interact with the system on a daily basis and it would be essential to train them on how to run, operate and interact with the system. For the management, it is essential that they have a grasp of the operations of the systems for overall accountability and supervision. The training shall be intensive involving runs and tests with the systems. In addition, it is at this phase that the technicians will customize the records.
Activity Four: Winding Up and Handing Over (Month Five)
This shall be the final phase of the project. At this point, all the contractual employees shall be released and the contracts terminated and or concluded. The permanent employees shall be left to run the system. In addition, the project manager shall officially hand over the project to the hospital for full consumption and use for the intended purpose.
Leadership Principles and Partnerships
Two critical principles of project management are essential and would be influential in the overall project team management. The principles of urgency and consultancy would be the most essential. Under the principle of urgency, emphasis shall be placed on the most critical areas and activities in terms of costs and time. In that respect, as the project manager, I shall personally supervise and oversee the implementation of critical areas. The less critical areas can be delegated to the project administrator. Secondly, under the principle of consultancy, the project implementation process shall be participative as possible. This shall include the incorporation of ideas from the team members as well as from external contributors.
In regard to partnerships, the stakeholders in the larger healthcare sector shall all be involved in the project implementation. In addition, it shall be critical to open books of account to all the contributor partners as well as to the Office of the Auditor General.
Monitoring, Scheduling and Regulating the Project
The project scheduling and timely implementation shall be performed applying the Critical Path Method (CPM). Under the CPM, a network diagram for the project shall be drawn and the critical path observed. In addition, I shall continuously access the implementation and give feedback on the adjustments to make in order to meet the deadlines. It is anticipated that despite the setbacks that often characterize project implementation, the project shall be implemented within the provided time.
Communication with Public and Interested Parties
Finally, in appreciation of the advancements in information technology, it is proposed that a project website be opened to allow for relay of information to the public and other interested parties. The website shall allow for direct correspondence and exchange of information and ideas in relation to the project. All requisite information in relation to the project shall be availed on the website. It is the paper’s considered opinion that the public and interested parties shall find this communication channel adequate and sufficient.
However, the project management does not limit communication to the website channel. In cases where other forms are necessary, the project management shall be open to such avenues. To such extent, the project manager proposes the use of the following two alternatives in addition to the websites. A physical office should be established accessible to the public and the partners. At the office, all information necessary for the fulfillment of the project objectives would be availed. In addition to that, the project manager shall avail himself every fortnight at the office for any consultations and communication with interested parties. Secondly, the project could start a page of its own in the social media platforms including twitter and Facebook. In these pages, information and communication for the public consumption shall be relayed on a real time basis.
Conclusion
The project shall improve the healthcare delivery in the hospital. It is indeed necessary for the record system to be improved so that in overall patient’s history and data can be accessed for purposes of understanding the medical conditions ailing them.
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