Role of Nurse Informaticist in SDLC
Improvement of the quality of healthcare services requires the development of new systems. The development of a reliable system requires that a System Development Life Cycle is followed to ensure the reliability of the established system. The involvement of stakeholders is also crucial for the success in the delivery of quality information systems within the scheduled budget and the scope constraints of any system development. (JEVTIC, 2019) In the process of development of a nursing documentation system, a nurse leader must be involved to ensure that the end-users find the system compatible with their capabilities. The nurse informaticist works hand-in-hand with the system developers over the relevant aspects of the documentation system such as data recovery, systems ethics, relevance to patient care, computer-human interactions, decision support systems, security, system’s intelligence, etc. (Joanne M Curry, 2007).
A nurse informaticist is required to take an active role at every phase of the system development life cycle ranging from planning to post-implementation phase.
Role at the planning and requirement definition stage
At the planning phase, the nurse informaticist evaluates the benefits, terms, and goals of the documentation system. The nurse gets to engage in the creation of system implementation strategies, budgeting, and creation of project leadership and team structure. The nurse leader foresees and incorporates the documentation needs of the entire nursing fraternity and merge the relevance of these needs to patients’ management. The graduate nurse involvement enables them to voice concerns that affect nurse practitioners in terms of the possible merits and demerits of the projected documentation system. The nurse informaticist queries the interests of the fellow nurses and provides feedback to the team of developers to ensure that the system to be developed is highly compatible to nurse practitioners preferences, interests, and capabilities. Nurse leader also takes part in the provision of detailed requirements needed to build the documentation system. (JEVTIC, 2019)
Role at the analysis stage
At this stage, the graduate nurse would be required to engage in the evaluation of the aspects of the documentation system such as quality and functionality. All the aspects of the system must be verified by the nurse to ensure that it can meet the documentation needs of nursing practitioners. In the process, he/she should be in a position to highlight the possible inefficiencies of the documentation system. (JEVTIC, 2019) The graduate nurse must practically verify the system’s intelligence and the user interface in which they are in symphony with the cognitive capabilities of the nursing staff. It is at this stage where the possible errors that would be made by nursing staff during the documentation process may be eliminated based on the assumption that the analysis of the nurse leader represents that of the entire nurse practitioners. Nurse involvement would optimize the efficiency in system development and minimize post-deployment interruptions.
Role at the design stage
This where how software application will work is modeled. A nurse leader at this point may contribute to the creation of a template design that can easily be used by nurse practitioners. The nurse should gauge the system’s functionality such as the hardware, interface format, software, intelligence of the system, and the cognitive compatibility of the documentation system to that of the nurse practitioners. The cognitive support provided by the nurse helps the designers to create an accurate design that takes into account several factors related to the end-users. Nurse informaticist ensures that the design creates a solution to the documentation challenges faced by nurse practitioners. Nurse leaders also evaluate the communication and the security design of the documentation system to affirm whether the design will be acceptable for use by the nurse practitioners. The nurse is capable of utilizing the experience to gain other healthcare facilities where the documentation system has been established to compare with one being designed. (How to Apply SDLC to the Healthcare Industry)
Role at the implementation stage
At this stage testing, final customization, and installation is done. Engaging nurse leaders in the implementation process relieves the complexity of the process since having a better understanding of the documentation system allows the nurse leader to easily explain to the other nursing staff. Having a better awareness of the nature of operations and activities within the work environment, the nurse leader becomes better positioned to identify an appropriate location for the documentation system to facilitate usability. He/she also stands a better chance of realizing the implementation of errors/ mistakes and the missing details of the developed system. Therefore, a nurse leader would ensure the outcomes generated by the implemented system are of great quality and would translate into effective patient management. (Joanne M Curry, 2007)
Role at the post-implementation phase
Once the system is considered ready for use by the nursing staff, a post-implementation evaluation would be necessary to enable the identification of bugs/ errors that were never captured during the testing and analysis stage. The nurse leader reports the errors of these errors which may sometimes spawn a new cycle of development. The nurse also identifies the features that may be included in the future development cycle.
Conclusion
SDLC steps are important to follow for the effective development of healthcare technology systems and the engagement stakeholders are important to provide expert opinion that would ensure system compatibility to the necessities. (JEVTIC, 2019)
