Nursing Informatics: Systems Development Life Cycle in Healthcare

This report explores Health Information Technology (HIT) and the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) in healthcare settings. It details the SDLC stages, including planning, defining goals, communication, feasibility, analysis, and implementation. The report highlights the importance of adapting HIT systems to ensure high-quality patient care and safety, emphasizing the need for collaboration between administrators and healthcare professionals, such as nurses. The report also addresses potential issues in the SDLC related to technical complexities and the involvement of multiple stakeholders, suggesting the inclusion of experts to enhance the quality of the application. The report references the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and McGonigle & Mastrian (2015) to support the discussion.

Running Head: HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
NURSING INFORMATICS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

1HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
The Systems Development Life Cycle (SLDC) is a model used for conceptual tasks in a
project management. It describes the stages in an information system development project that
comes from the feasibility study to the development of the end project. Health Information
Technology (HIT) uses the method of SLDC in healthcare sectors. The implementation of this
application is dependent on the stages of systems development that includes planning,
identifying and defining goals, communicating and collaborating, visibility of leadership,
feasibility of determination, analysis, looking at the needs of the user and cognitive aspects,
checking the infrastructure and requirement of the system, reconfiguration of processes and
policies, designing, understanding the purpose and the interaction of the systems, work
processes, implementation, ensuring 2 way communication, maintenance and evaluation
(McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015). .
The healthcare organization I am associated with has implemented health information
technology and the procedures requires tailoring the system to support high quality patient safety
and care. It is a multistage process that requires the balance of hardware and software involved
for the efficiency of the application in the organization. A successful implementation involves
clear communication between the administration and the health experts such as the nurses
because they are involved in all the medical treatments and procedures a patient requires
(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019). Potential issues are found in the stages of
SLDC due to the technicality and the inclusion of several people, which leads to complications
and clashes regarding ideas. Experts should be involved in the decision making process to ensure
flexibility and involvement of different ideas and method that can enhance the quality of the
application.

2HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
References
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2019). Workflow Assessment for Health IT
Toolkit | AHRQ Digital Healthcare Research: Informing Improvement in Care Quality,
Safety, and Efficiency. Retrieved 20 January 2020, from https://healthit.ahrq.gov/health-
it-tools-and-resources/evaluation-resources/workflow-assessment-health-it-toolkit
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (Eds.). (2015). Nursing informatics and the foundation of
knowledge. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.