The Role of a Nurse Manager in Systems Development Life Cycle

The Role of a Nurse Manager in Systems Development Life Cycle
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The Role of a Nurse Manager in Systems Development Life Cycle
Nurses play an essential role in changing the face of healthcare as they embrace and participate in the successful implementation of health information technology (IT). The systems development life cycle (SDLC) is a model commonly used by organizations to plan and implement change in health IT. SDLC consist of various stages: planning and requirement definition, design analysis, system specification, programming, testing, implementation, maintenance and destruction (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015). The process requires the involvement of various stakeholders and most important the end users who will be directly impacted by the change. Therefore, when implementing a new system in a healthcare facility or setting the collaboration between the information technology professionals and healthcare professionals is very is vital. This paper describes the role of a graduate-level nurse on the system development implementation team for a new nursing documentation system.
Planning and Requirement Definition
A graduate nurse working in a clinical setting is in an ideal position to judge the usefulness of software and whether it facilitates patient care or it is just another tiresome process of formality for the healthcare professionals. Their involvement helps address common problems arising as a result of faulty software design and ensure a better allocation of healthcare resources (Verma & Gupta, 2017).
Software developers have to understand the needs of the user before developing a product for healthcare professionals. The nurse manager is the ideal person to provide the required information as they coordinate and conduct a lot of patient care related activities. In this case, a nurse manager has sufficient knowledge about the various documentation processes involved. The significance of their contribution lies in their ability to explain and put the requirement in a manner that ensures the end product is usable and acceptable for the nurses impacted. Their participation in the initial stages is also helpful in identifying improvement areas for quality patient care.
Analysis and Coding
The input of a nurse manager in the program coding is essential. While a software developer can understand the requirements, they may not be conversant with the appropriate medical terminologies, in such a case; they need the guidance of a healthcare professional. The nurse manager must ensure the definition of a standardized nursing language used in patient care systems to enable accurate communication of patient care information among nurses and other healthcare providers. T...