NURS FPX 6426 Assessment 3 Technology Needs Assessment Summary

Executive Summary

The executive summary presents the findings and recommendations from a comprehensive needs assessment undertaken to enhance telemonitoring in an electronic health record implementation at Mercy Medical Center. The identification of critical gaps in the current informatics infrastructure reported in the evaluation is contributing to extended hospital stays averaging 10.53 days and hospitalization costs of $15,799 per patient admission.

Stakeholder engagement from administration, clinical staff, information technology (IT) personnel, and patient representatives identified support across the board for system enhancements to improve patient outcomes and operational efficiency. The proposed implementation plan meets organizational needs through a strategic 18-month deployment process that combines advanced telemonitoring capabilities with existing electronic health record (EHR) systems to shift patient care from reactive to proactive management.

Current Informatics Structure in the Organization

Mercy Medical Center currently uses a basic electronic health record system and supports routine documentation and clinical workflows; however, it lacks integrated telemonitoring capabilities and real-time patient data analytics. The current informatics infrastructure includes standard EHR modules for patient registration, medication administration, and billing processes, and a dedicated IT team of eight specialists and nursing informatics staff across four lines of service. Current system limitations include disparate patient data storage, limited clinical decision support, and a lack of remote monitoring, which contribute to lengthy hospital stays and costs of $15,799 per patient admission.

The organization’s informatics governance structure consists of a multidisciplinary committee that includes clinical staff, IT personnel, and administrative leadership, responsible for maintaining the system, training users, and ensuring compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations (Penedo et al., 2022). While current infrastructure provides a basic level of electronic documentation functionality, the strategy needs to be further enhanced to enable the evidence-based telemonitoring intervention to achieve organizational goals of improving patient outcomes and reducing costs.

Recommendations for Project Implementation and Health Information Protection

Establishing a dedicated project team (a Chief Nursing Informatics Officer, two clinical champions from nursing and physician staff, and increased IT security personnel to oversee the telemonitoring implementation, which cost $1.5 million and projected annual costs are $200,000). Health information protection strategies include end-to-end encryption, multi-factor authentication, secure virtual private network (VPN) access, and comprehensive cybersecurity protocols to prevent data breaches during system integration and daily operations (Aslan et al., 2023).

Specific contingency plans that address cybersecurity attacks with automated backup systems and incident response teams; system crashes with redundant server infrastructure and manual documentation procedures; and black swan events such as natural disasters with cloud-based data storage and remote access capabilities (Jaradat et al., 2024). The holistic implementation plan demands dedicated project champions, adequate technical support infrastructures, and long-term executive commitment to implement successfully on the timeline (18 months) under compliance with regulations and patient data security.

Fiscal Budget and Implementation Impact

The full cost of fiscal budgeting for the implementation of a telemonitoring-enhancing EHR is $1.95 million in Year 1, with a breakdown as follows: Software licensing ($850,000), Hardware ($650,000), Staff training ($450,000), and ongoing annual operational costs of $200,000 for maintenance and support.

The return on investment covers the price in 18 months through savings in hospitalization costs, with organizational savings of $4,760 per patient admission and an estimated $2.3 million saved annually across the 15,000-patient population. The fiscal impact is a direct benefit to stakeholders, increasing operational efficiency for administration, improving patient outcomes for clinical staff, and enabling sustainable cost reduction for long-term organizational financial stability (Suresh et al., 2024).

Change Management Strategies and Clinical System Recommendations

The current clinical information system at Mercy Medical Center is a basic EHR system with no integrated telemonitoring capabilities. Upgrading the clinical information system to a comprehensive, telemonitoring-enhanced system for real-time patient monitoring and predictive analytics is recommended. Implementing Kotter’s 8-step change model and the TAM model of technological acceptance will help generate stakeholder buy-in through transparent communication, phased training programmes, and early adopter champions who demonstrate the benefits of the systems to colleagues (Dykes et al., 2022).

Anticipated improvements include reduced hospital length of stay, cost savings per patient admission, improved patient safety through continuous monitoring, and improved patient care coordination, leading directly to benefits for clinical staff through improved workflows and for administrative stakeholders through measurable financial returns.

Conclusion

The telemonitoring-enhanced EHR implementation at Mercy Medical Center is a strategic investment that integrates technology development and organizational objectives of better patient outcomes and lower costs. Through holistic planning, stakeholder engagement, and robust contingency measures, the project will transform the model of care delivery while ensuring patient safety and operational sustainability.

Successful implementation requires sustained leadership commitment, sufficient resource allocation, and systematic change management to achieve the projected benefits of reducing hospital stays and improving the quality of care.

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Technology Needs Assessment Memo

Audio Memo Script for Stakeholder Engagement

Hi, I am ________. As the Chief Nursing Informatics Officer spearheading the telemonitoring-enhanced electronic health record (EHR) implementation at Mercy Medical Center, I am thrilled to share the transformative project that will improve the delivery of patient care and deliver significant benefits to the organization. The comprehensive 18-month implementation plan reflects a $1.95 million strategic investment that will provide substantial returns, including reduced hospital length of stay and $4,760 in cost savings per patient admission, representing $2.3 million in annual savings for the organization, with full cost recovery in 18 months.

The initiative directly addresses the stakeholders’ needs by improving end-user clinical workflows, delivering measurable outcomes that the project champion can celebrate, and providing the informatics team with cutting-edge technology to support evidence-based patient care (Dukhanin et al., 2023).

The implementation strategy uses Kotter’s 8-step change model and the technology acceptance model (TAM) to ensure successful stakeholder engagement and sustainable adoption across all organizational levels. Project champions leverage change management frameworks to communicate with their colleagues, focusing on the perceived usefulness and ease of use of the new system, creating a sense of urgency around current system limitations, and setting up short-term wins through phased implementation milestones (Fredberg & Pregmark, 2021).

End-users of the telemedicine system may build confidence among other users by sharing success stories from pilot testing phases and showcasing how telemonitoring capabilities will reduce doctors’ documentation burden and improve patient outcomes (Zubrinic et al., 2023).

The informatics team should focus on technical excellence and solid support structures to ensure the integration of the workflow into the existing structure. At the same time, all stakeholders can work together to build a coalition of advocates for the initiative, which will be crucial to Mercy Medical Center’s future success in delivering patient-centered, cost-effective healthcare through innovative nursing informatics solutions.