Understanding Workflow Design

Week 7 discussion
Understanding Workflow Design
As you explored last week, the implementation of a new technology can dramatically affect the workflow of an organization. Newly implemented technologies can initially limit the productivity of users as they adjust to their new tools. Such implementations tend to be so significant that they often require workflows to be redesigned in order to achieve improvements in safety and patient outcomes. However, before workflows can be redesigned, they must first be analyzed. This analysis includes each step in completing a certain process. Some systems duplicate efforts or contain unnecessary steps that waste time and money and could even jeopardize patient health care. By reviewing and modifying the workflow, you enable greater productivity. This drive to implement new technologies has elevated the demand for nurses who can perform workflow analysis.
In this Discussion you explore resources that have been designed to help guide you through the process of workflow assessment. NURS 6051 Transforming Nursing & Healthcare Through Information Technology Discussion Papers.
To prepare:
Take a few minutes and peruse the information found in the article “Workflow Assessment for Health IT Toolkit” listed in this week’s Learning Resources.
As you check out the information located on the different tabs, identify key concepts that you could use to improve a workflow in your own organization and consider how you could use them.
Go the Research tab and identify and read one article that is of interest to you and relates to your specialty area.
By Day 3
Post a summary of three different concepts you found in “Workflow Assessment for Health IT Toolkit” that would help in redesigning a workflow in the organization in which you work (or one with which you are familiar) and describe how you would apply them. Next, summarize the article you selected and assess how you could use the information to improve workflow within your organization. Finally, evaluate the importance of monitoring the effect of technology on workflow. NURS 6051 Transforming Nursing & Healthcare Through Information Technology Discussion Papers
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses. Focus particularly on questions raised for which you can add comments based on your experiences or situations. Consider how your colleagues’ postings reflect and/or differ from your own perceptions and opinions. Review the Learning Resources for any clarification needed before responding.
By Day 6
Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days using one or more of the following approaches
Ask a probing question, substantiated with additional background information, evidence or research.
Share an insight from having read your colleagues’ postings, synthesizing the information to provide new perspectives.
Offer and support an alternative perspective using readings from the classroom or from your own research in the Walden Library.
Validate an idea with your own experience and additional research.
Make a suggestion based on additional evidence drawn from readings or after synthesizing multiple postings.
Expand on your colleagues’ postings by providing additional insights or contrasting perspectives based on readings and evidence. NURS 6051 Transforming Nursing & Healthcare Through Information Technology Discussion Papers.