Transforming Health Care Through Information: Case Studies

by Laura Einbinder (Editor), Nancy M. Lorenzi (Editor), Joan Ash (Editor), Cynthia S. Gadd (Editor), Jonathan Einbinder (Editor)

Overview

By any measure, our field of clinical informatics is poised for rapid growth and expansion. A confluence of forces and trends, including pressure to contain health care costs and simultaneously expand access and coverage, a desire to reduce me- cal error and health care disparities, the need to better understand and optimize our clinical interventions and delivery systems, the need to translate new knowledge into practice quickly and effectively, and the need to demonstrate the value of our services, all call for the application of the methods and techniques of our field – some of which are well honed with experience, and some of which are still in the process of being discovered. Clinical informatics is not the only solution to what ails health care, but it is a critical component of the solution. Our methods and techniques are similar in many ways to the knowledge base of any interdisciplinary field: some are informed by experience, the trials and tribulations of figuring out what works through real world implementation, some are informed by controlled experimentation in randomized controlled trials and related studies, some are informed by critical observation and analysis, and some are developed through laboratory evaluation rather than field trials. As we develop both the basic science, as well as the applied science, of our field, there is a cri- cal role for learning from others by way of case reports and stories.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441902696
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	03/14/2010
Series:	Health Informatics
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	195
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Nancy Lorenzi, PhD, is a professor of Biomedical Informatics and Assistant Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.

Joan S. Ash, PhD, is a professor of Medical Informatics and Outcomes Research at the Oregon Health and Science University Medical School, Portland Oregon.

Jonathan Einbinder, MD, MPH is Corporate Manager in Quality Data Management at Partners Healthcare System, Wellesley, Massachusetts.

Cindy Gadd, PhD is a professor in Informatics at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee.

Laura Einbinder, MBA is a Consultant at Einbinder & Associates in Medfield, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Managing Change.- Back Breaking Work: Implementing a Spine Registry in an Orthopedic Clinic.- A RHIO Struggling to Form: Will it Get Off the Ground?.- A Rough Ride at the Theodore Roosevelt Cancer Center.- Implementation of an Electronic Prescription Writer in Ambulatory Care.- Online Health Care: A Classic Clash of Technology, People, and Processes.- Patient Safety.- A Dungeon of Dangerous Practices.- Different Sides of the Story.- Barcode Medication Administration Implementation in the FIAT Health System.- H.I.T. or Miss.- Organizational Impact and Evaluation.- The Implementation of Secure Messaging.- Who Moved My Clinic? Donnelly University Pediatric Rehabilitation: The Wheelchair Clinic.- OncoOrders: The Early Years.- Implementing a Computerized Triage System in the Emergency Department.- Medication Barcode Scanning: Code “Moo”: Dead COW.- Integration.- Project NEED: New Efficiency in an Emergency Department.- Digital Radiology Divide at McKinly.

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Katie Dejuras, RN, MSN (Northwestern Memorial Hospital)
Description: This third edition of a useful overview of clinical informatics uses real life implementation cases and stories surrounding four major areas — change management, patient safety, organizational impact and evaluation, and integration. The authors share their experiences and challenges while enlightening readers with their analysis and recommendations to help them identify what may or may not work in their own organization.
Purpose: This collection of case reports and stories, some more formal than others, contribute to the evolving framework of understanding of clinical informatics, thereby helping practitioners in the field become better able to pursue their own trials and tribulations with informatics projects, and contribute their own experiences to the framework. The demand for information systems in healthcare has increased, but informatics solutions are not always foolproof and may result in unintended consequences or workarounds, highlighting the challenges of implementation and reinforcing the need for a book such as this.
Audience: The book is intended for healthcare professionals who are leading the transformation of healthcare by using information and knowledge. It is valuable not only for informatics clinicians, but also for anyone in healthcare, whether executives, managers, consultants, or students. All will be able to apply the recommendations and insights to their practice and implementation efforts.
Features: The experiences the authors share highlight the challenges of certain implementations, such as the unintended consequences and workarounds with bar code point-of-care (BPOC). The chapters in the change management section emphasize the importance of understanding and implementing change. This section also reinforces that the key to adoption and user acceptance is to involve key stakeholders (i.e. physicians, patients, nursing, etc.) throughout the design, planning, and implementation process. The patient safety section shines a light on the complexities of implementing information systems and offers ways to identify and address them. The reports and case stories reinforce that even though informatics solutions are implemented for the right intention, for the safety of the patient, they are not always foolproof. The recommendations and analysis after each story and case report enable readers to apply their knowledge in a real life setting.
Assessment: This compilation of reports and stories is a valuable resource, offering great insights to readers enduring the same struggles with implementing informatics solutions. Learning from the authors' real-life experiences enables readers to identify which recommendations may or may not work in their setting. This edition is justified by the advances in the field of health informatics. What better way to understand them than to learn from others' experiences?

Doody's Review Service

From the reviews of the third edition: “This third edition of a useful overview of clinical informatics uses real life implementation cases and stories surrounding four major areas — change management, patient safety, organizational impact and evaluation, and integration. … The book is intended for healthcare professionals who are leading the transformation of healthcare by using information and knowledge. It is valuable not only for informatics clinicians, but also for anyone in healthcare, whether executives, managers, consultants, or students.” (Katie Dejuras, Doody’s Review Service, March, 2010)

From the Publisher