University Health Informatics: Redesigning Patient Care with ICT

This assignment addresses a health informatics case study focused on improving patient care through ICT redesign. The student identifies the lack of coordination in a hospital setting as the main issue, particularly the inefficient flow of information. As a health service analyst, the student proposes redesigning the patient care journey to streamline information flow, reduce waiting times, and integrate hospital functions. The benefits of this redesign include reduced hospital arrivals, improved process flow, and an integrated system for service delivery. Potential obstacles, such as the need for resources and resistance to organizational change, are also discussed. The assignment emphasizes the importance of clear information flow and the use of ICT to enhance patient care and overall hospital efficiency, referencing relevant literature to support the analysis.

Running head: HEALTH INFORMATICS 1
Health Informatics
Student’s Name
University

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Health Informatics
Question one: Identify the main issues as presented in the case study?
Process flow diagram
The main issue in the case is the lack of coordination between the different areas of the
organization that are supposed to work together. This implies that the hospital system was
supposed to have an organized system that allows multidisciplinary teams to work together in a
coordinated environment thus allowing Jan to receive efficient and appropriate care. Through
clear information flow, the hospital system needed to have a clear flow of information to connect
the patient and the healthcare professionals (Simonse, Albayrak, & Starre, 2019). As seen in the
case, Jan is supposed to move from one point to another and register at every reception instead of
walking directly to the person in charge. This is the challenge experienced in most healthcare
facilities since the organization of the different roles does not consider the way functions are
supposed to be coordinated within the organization (Fiorio, Gorli, & Verzillo, 2018). As seen in
Referral from GP
and booking
appointment
Registration at the reception
and answering questionnaire
Phlebotomist
Blood lab for
sample
Testing of blood Visit to gynecologist
with the results
Patient

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the case of Jan, the fact that she had booked an appointment with the gynecologist means that she
needed to have been prepared on the important information that is supposed to be gathered and
the tests that she needs to undergo. This should have saved her more time since she could have
filled the questionnaire at home before coming to the clinic.
Question two: As a Health Service Analyst, what would you do to redesign the patient care
journey using ICT?
As a health service analyst, my role will be to redesign the system so that a new system can be
created that allows easy flow of information within the organization. This is based on identifying
the different levels of information flow and organizing them in a way that ensures information
flows from one level of the organization to another (Snyde, et al., 2011). This redesigning will be
based on identifying the entry point and the exit point within the hospital environment. This will
ensure that the hospital environment will have a system of flow of information that allows
connecting patients from different points of the organization. The most important point of
information is the capture of information from different points of entry within the hospital
environment. According to Ben-Tovim, Lewis, O'Connell, & McGrath (2018), this redesign will
be based on process mapping by identifying the non-value adding steps and elimination them to
increase information flow. The outcome is a reduced patient journey which leads to increased
quality of care. This process works with patients, healthcare providers, and hospital management
to create a system of information flow.
Question three: What would be the benefits of your redesign?
One benefit of this redesigning the process is to reduce unwanted hospital arrivals to ensure that
the patient only arrivals in the hospital when their time is due. This will lead to reduced waiting
time and a direct correlation with the patient and the medical interventions that are to be reduced.

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Under the redesign, process flow will be improved so that the patient is aware of the
requirements within the organization that is needed for the patient (Ansell, Crispo, Simard, &
Bjerre, 2017). Like the case of Jan, the redesign was supposed to lead to a process where there is
proper flow information from one point to another.
Another benefit is an integrated system between different hospital functions to increase service
delivery. In a good flowing system, there needs to be proper integration of the different functions
for the needs of the patient (Suter, Oelke, Adair, & Armitage, 2019). This ensures that there is
proper coordination among the multidisciplinary teams who are responsible for the care of the
patient. As seen in the case of Jan, there was a problem with information flow from one point to
another forcing her to register twice at two reception points when the hospital had all her
information.
Question four: Are there any major obstacles or risks that you envisage that may affect
your success?
One major obstacle is the need for resources that will be required in redesigning and
restructuring the hospital process. Since the hospital seems to be using a manual system, the
introduction of ICT will require resources that will be used in the transition process. This implies
that management will have to avail of the required processes for redesigning the business
processes and developing an integrated system that connects the different areas of the
organization (Worren, Bree, & Zybach, 2019). This will include the need for training and
empowering healthcare teams on how the new system will work and their changing role. Since
this is a new system, it means that management will have to invest heavily in the new system so
that enough resources can be put in place.

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Another challenge that can be faced is the resistance to organizational change which will arise
from the new changes that have to be made in the organization. Since this is a new process, it
will be met with some resistance from different levels of the organization due to the fear of
dealing with the demands of the new changes (Hearld, Alexander, & Fraser, 2018). Since the
redesign will affect the healthcare teams more than the patients, it means that they will be
threatened with the new challenges that will affect success. This will be reflected in lack of
cooperation, or support under different circumstances that are needed for improving change
management.

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References
Ansell, D., Crispo, J. A., Simard, B., & Bjerre, L. M. (2017). Interventions to reduce wait times
for primary care appointments: a systematic review. BMC Health Services Research
volume, 17(295).
Ben-Tovim, D. I., Lewis, M., O'Connell, T. J., & McGrath, K. M. (2018). Patient Journeys: The
Process of Clinical Redesign. The Medical journal of Australia, 188(6), 14-24.
Fiorio, C. V., Gorli, M., & Verzillo, S. (2018). Evaluating organizational change in health care:
the patient-centered hospital model. BMC Health Services Research, 18(95).
Hearld, L. R., Alexander, J. A., & Fraser, I. (2018). Review: How Do Hospital Organizational
Structure and Processes Affect Quality of Care?: A Critical Review of Research
Methods. Medical Care Research and Review, 65(3).
Simonse, L., Albayrak, A., & Starre, S. (2019). Patient journey method for integrated service
design. Design for Health, 3(1), 82-97.
Snyde, C. F., Wu, A. W., Miller, R. S., Jensen, R. E., Bantug, E. T., & Wolff, A. C. (2011). The
role of informatics in promoting patient-centered care. Cancer journal, 17(4), 211–218.
Suter, E., Oelke, N. D., Adair, C. E., & Gail D. Armitage. (2019). Ten key principles for
successful health systems integration. Healthcare quarterly, 13, 16–23.
Worren, N., Bree, J. v., & Zybach, W. (2019). Organization design challenges: results from a
practitioner survey. Journal of Organization Design volume, 8(13).