The West Coast University Medical Center installed a computerized medical diagnostic
system to enhance and sustain research, education, and practices of health care in the
institution. Data was stored in the servers and accessed from computers. The doctors were
able to access the information from any location due to the Wi-Fi connection.
Despite the availability of massive growing literature to the doctors on medication, the
system went down after one year. It was noted that there were issues of sustainability and
adaptability. Technical issues due to system failure also derailed hospital operations and in
some cases, halted the operations. The large massive data available in the servers was
irrelevant, leading to a wastage of time while looking for the right information. Moreover, the
non-availability of customized tabs to enable doctors, pharmacists and lab technicians key in
data or access their stored data without numerous navigation skills posed a major challenge.
Assumptions
This report made the following assumptions concerning the installed system
The system was connected to central servers where data was stored, sorted, and
accessed by doctors, pharmacists, lab technologists, and hospital administration as per
their levels.
There existed the IT department in the hospital that was tasked with managing the
issues of the installed system.
All operations in the hospital, from the time a patient was admitted to the time he was
discharged, went through the system.
Major issues
There were numerous technological challenges that halted the installed system. This
was due to the inadequate deployment of requisite technical problem solvers in time.
Consequently, there was a breakdown in communications, access to required data and finally
halting of hospital operations. Additionally, political, deep economic, and cultural challenges
were also noted to have played a major role in making the system dysfunctional. The installed
system dictated a change in ways in which operations were conducted. It demanded
accountability, transparency, and communication. The fear of change and resistance to change
caused by the hospital staff also contributed to the failing of the system. Also, the need to
invest in skilled computer programmers who were skilled raised the initial cost of the
installation.
Minor issues
It was noted that they were times when the Wi-Fi would be low. Consequently, hospital
operations would be delayed. Power breakdown was also noted to occasionally halt operations
of the systems. Finally, computer literacy levels of the staff were to determine the extent to
which they were able to access data from the IT system.
Alternatives and discussions
Innovativeness in computing, information management, and communications handling
was noted to be the heartbeat of the installed system. Advancement in computing will lead to
the design of usable, appropriate, and highly effective solutions that will utilize the most
powerful and deepest insights. This would, however, lead to additional funding in research,
training, and installation of additional features. Also, the process tedious as IT innovations
would require input from various fields of engineering, administration and policy department,
ecological section, and safety and environmental department.
Contracting an IT firm, on the other hand, would save the company the costs of research
and management of the system. The IT firm would be tasked with modifying the system to fit
the needs of the hospital, training the staff and proposing policy frameworks that would enable
the system to function. However, the hospital would lose privacy to the data in its servers.
Additionally, this mode is expensive in the long run as it would create recurring wage bills,
which may increase in the future. Also, the hospital's IT department would not be fully utilized.
Finally, the hospital will not have the overall decision to manage the system.
Conclusions
Innovation in the design of a system that is resilient, adaptive, robust, and usable was
noted to be key in the sustainability of the system. This was to be achieved by customizing the
programing language to fit the hospital’s needs. Also, design thinking and search were to be
enabled in the system. This would best be implemented by the IT department of the hospital as
they had experienced in the operations of West Coast University Medical Center.
References
National Research Council. (2012). Computing Research for Sustainability. National Academies