HCIN 552 / Project Proposal
The final project in the HCIN 552 course was to complete a written business project proposal and presentation for the purchase of hardware and accessories related to implementation of an electronic medical record (EMR) in a clinical setting. With this project, students were able to create their own scenario and overall scope of the proposal including: what type of facility will be used, what current problems the facility faces, details regarding the necessity of an EMR, expectations of the project, overall budget, and possible unintended effects/how these challenges would be addressed. As unofficial project managers, we were tasked with applying concepts of leadership principles and strategic planning to solve the problems we created in our scenarios.
Using our own clinical experience, we were able to identify problems associated with EMRs and apply them to our project. As a registered nurse, I have worked in a skilled nursing facility which transitioned from paper charting to a fully functional EMR. I was able to use this experience as a guideline for my own project: I planned to implement PointClickCare (PCC) EMR in a 48-bed skilled nursing facility from a paper charting system to fully electronic within seven months. While this scenario mirrored my real-life experience, extensive research was still conducted regarding the EMR system, overall costs for all equipment and training, and project activities and work plans. With the introduction of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) via PCC, a main goal for my project was to reduce the amount of medication errors by 25% within the first year.
The development of a strategic implementation plan was no easy task, which is why iterative drafts of the written proposals were submitted and reviewed with the professors before final presentations. During these review sessions, our instructors provided feedback regarding our implementation plan and how we as project managers could create more realistic and effective proposals.
This project was an extensive introduction to the world of nursing informatics and EMR implementation. Having experienced EMR implementation as an end-user, I was not fully aware of the intricacies associated with planning such a huge project. Creating my own project proposal exposed me to many concepts of leadership and strategic planning and allowed me to create effective organizational and system changes within my scenario.