Enhancing data quality in a clinical information system by making end-users the primary stakeholder: A bottom-up approach to system design, build and implementation

Title: Enhancing data quality in a clinical information system by making end-users the primary stakeholder: A bottom-up approach to system design, build and implementation

Abstract:

In many electronic systems that have been developed and implemented in more recent times, clinician needs are clearly subjugated to the wants and requirements of other stakeholders, if they are even considered at all. The result is that clinicians and other end-users increasingly feel that their primary role is the mere entering of data for largely non-clinical purposes. This has occasioned the ongoing need for clinicians to develop their own external paper-based or electronic system (Excel spreadsheet and/or Word document) to capture information relevant to them and their services and clinics. This paper discusses the implications of this dynamic and presents a real-world example of an alternative approach that sought to overcome these issues. The solution was a clinical information system that was designed, developed and implemented from the bottom up, with a primary focus on user or clinician needs, and the reprioritorisation of other stakeholder requirements as secondary to these.

Biography:

Craig studied nursing at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia and graduated with a Bachelor of Nursing in 1995. He then completed further studies at the Queensland University of technology in Brisbane and graduated in 1999 with a Masters of Health Science, cross specialising in Health Information Technology and Health Management. Much of Craig’s healthcare career has been as a senior nurse in Queensland Health however, he has also been involved in developing and implementing clinical information systems across individual services, and throughout the state of Qld.