Running head: Selection of a Patient Safety Strategy

Case Study 3: Selection of a Patient Safety Strategy

Edwin J. Ocasio
National University
HTM 660: System Management and Planning
Submitted to Professor Susan Leonard
November 1, 2014

Selection of a Patient Safety Strategy

Case Study 3: Selection of a Patient Safety Strategy
Langley Mason Health (LMH) has developed an Information Technology (IT) strategy
that includes realizing the benefits of innovation, maximizing the value of IT, deploying an agile
technical architecture, and digitally enabling new facilities, including the new hospital. It must
be able to fund routine maintenance, equipment, and technology for all its facilities with a
limited annual budget of $10 million during to the massive expansion due to population growth
and statewide mandated seismic requirements.
Current Situation
The pharmacy and nursing staff at LMH have submitted a proposal to replace all of the
health care systems aging pumps with smart IV pumps that can significantly increase patient
safety by reducing medication administration errors. The implementation of the smart pumps
will cost $4.9 million and consume almost half of the available budgeted dollars for the fiscal
year. This solution only considers one aspect of the overall medication management and patient
safety strategic plan. It does not address the unstable computerized provider order entry (CPOE)
system and the lack of a fully automated pharmacy information system. The proposal only
addresses patient safety for IV medication administration and not all the other systems
throughout LMHs entire health care organization.
Competing Approaches: The Pros and Cons
The chief information officer (CIO) Marilyn Moore argues that this new technology
should not be segregated from the overall medication management and patient safety strategic
plan. She suggest that a pharmacy and nursing leadership team consider a more comprehensive
medication management strategic plan to evaluate technologies that could optimize medication
safety, consider the costs associated with implementing these technologies, and gage the

Selection of a Patient Safety Strategy

organizations readiness to incorporate these new processes and systems. This approach
complies with some of the goals of the IT strategic plan and would have a greater impact on the
whole organization and patient safety. It can provide the new facilities with the capability to
implement a more robust medication prescription, administration and management systems. The
plan can be processed under the agile technical architecture which can shorten the development
and implementation time period and improve project outcomes.
The director of pharmacy Paul Robinson feels smart IV pumps are so critical for patient
safety that they dont have time to go through a lengthy planning process of gaining board
support and implementing a complex large-scale solution. Though the replacement of the IV
pumps can be done in a shorter period of time, it will consume almost half the fiscal year budget
and affect a small number of selected patients. If developed in isolation, it may not be able to be
integrated into the larger medication management system needed by the entire organization. It is
not popular with others in the organization that contend that there are too many other pressing
issues, especially with the implementation of the computerized provider order entry (CPOE) to
consider investment in yet another new technology. It contradicts the goals set forth in the IT
strategic plan.
The best course of action would be to determine the requirements for the overall
medication management capital purchase and patient safety strategic plan and develop an
implementation plan that would include all facets of medication management under an agile
technical architecture. The plan can evaluate the interactions and interdependencies between all
the components in the system and determine the priority of deployment of individual solutions.
The plan can benefit from combining multiple components and deploying a solution that will
improve medication management and patient safety in the entire health system of LMH.

Selection of a Patient Safety Strategy

Mediating Consensus Discussion

The best approach to mediate a discussion on this issue and to come to a consensus on the
best way to proceed is to first review and understand the goals of LMHs IT strategic plan. Then
these goals should be considered when proposing any implementation whether isolated or
enterprise wide. Each proposal must be evaluated to maximize the value to the organization and
its patients. As the implementation plan is being developed, special consideration can be given
to systems that can be easily and quickly purchased, installed and integrated. The agile
architecture process allows the development of a high-level model early in the project and helps
foster agreement regarding the technical strategy within the IT team and with the pharmacy and
nursing leadership team. The goal at this point is to identify the strategy, not a lengthy process
plan, enabling the team to act on approved items swiftly. The team can then work through the
rest of the design details later during the various development cycles in model. This process will
help facilitate the implementation of IT solutions and patient safety processes and determine the
impact on the limited fiscal budget.

Selection of a Patient Safety Strategy

References
Wager, K., & Lee, F. (2013). Health care information systems: A practical approach for health care
management (Third ed., pp. 601-603). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.