Understanding Workflow Design Essay

Posted: December 10th, 2022

Understanding Workflow Design Essay

Discussion: Understanding Workflow Design Please use the following 3 references and 2 more APA 6th ed with in 2 years please 1 McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2018). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning. Chapter 13, “Workflow and Beyond Meaningful Use” 2 Huser, V., Rasmussen, L. V., Oberg, R., & Starren, J. B. (2011). Implementation of workflow engine technology to deliver basic clinical decision support functionality. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 11(1), 43–61. 3 Koppel, R., & Kreda, D. A. (2010). Healthcare IT usability and suitability for clinical needs: Challenges of design, workflow, and contractual relations. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 157, 7–14. Understanding Workflow Design Essay.    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. 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. Understanding Workflow Design Essay. o 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. o Go the Research tab and identify and read one article that is of interest to you and relates to your specialty area. 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. Understanding Workflow Design Essay

Understanding workflow design

Workflow is an ideathat has become increasingly important in management, particularly with its regards to improve work output while minimizing input and wastage. It comprises of structured patterns of activities that are designed to and can be implemented to direct all work activities for the best outcomes. A simplified definition of the idea identifies it as directing resources that include materials and people through a series of well-directed and sequential steps to get work done (McGonigle&Mastrian, 2018). Within the healthcare industry, workflow refers to logical sequence of activities that are conducted by medical personnel to obtain pre-defined outcomes (Ellis & Bach, 2015). For instance, paying medicine suppliers entails the supplier first creating an invoice that is then sent to the medical facility. The facility passes the invoice on to the finance department where it is approved for payment before payment is processed and sent to the supplier. The present essay discusses workflow design within the context of healthcare, identifying specific concepts.Understanding Workflow Design Essay

Although workflow seeks to improve efficiency and performance, they produce the best results when approached as evolving systems and not as static systems. This becomes evident when the need for workflow redesign arises over time to address performance deficiencies as identified. In fact, there are three different concepts that can be identified in workflow assessment. Firstly, workflow has different aspects, with the medical environment presenting clinical and administrative workflow. This is an important consideration for healthcare managers who must understand the two environments as different entities even though they overlap. Secondly, there is a need to regularly evaluate the workflow with a view to improving its performance through reorganization. The evaluation identifies the workflow features that do not work as expected as well as those that can be improved for further consideration and action. Finally, workflow is intended to facilitate the planning, design, implementation and use of resources within the health care environment. These three concepts help in designing workflows that maximize resource allocation and use efficiency(Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2019). Koppel and Kreda (2010) add to the discussion be noting that when applied in the right way, workflow promises improved clinical performance and efficiency. It mentions that it is not enough to simply implement a workflow. Rather, it must be complete and appropriate since applying the wrong workflow has the potential of limiting the utility and value of health care resources (Koppel &Kreda, 2010).Understanding Workflow Design Essay

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Huser et al. (2011) places the discussion on workflow application within the health care industry into perspective. The article notes that the successful implementation of workflows is a challenge. This difficulty has been occasioned by two issues. The first issue is the difficult in testing the workflow using retrospective data since the health care environment is static and subjected to regular changes that include introduction of new technologies and professional specialties. The second issue is that it is difficult to translate professional logic into user-friendly formats. The article concludes that workflows provide a platform to support decision-making and evaluation both within the clinical and administrative environments (Huser et al., 2011).

This discussion makes it clear that workflows represent an important evaluation in health care management. However, like any other structured work designs and process, monitoring workflows is an important activity. That is to ensure efficiency and effective use of health care resources without oversimplifying or overlooking practice and clinical management requirements. The implication is that failing to monitor workflows would halt opportunities for improvement (Ellis& Bach, 2015). As such, workflows are important management tools for the health care industry, and should be monitored regularly to identify opportunities for improvement.Understanding Workflow Design Essay

References

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2019). Workflow assessment for health IT toolkit. Retrieved from https://healthit.ahrq.gov/health-it-tools-and-resources/evaluation-resources/workflow-assessment-health-it-toolkit

Ellis, P. & Bach, S. (2015). Leadership, management and team working in nursing (2^nded.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.

Huser, V., Rasmussen, L. V., Oberg, R., &Starren, J. B. (2011). Implementation of workflow engine technology to deliver basic clinical decision support functionality. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 11(1), 43–61.

Koppel, R., &Kreda, D. A. (2010). Healthcare IT usability and suitability for clinical needs: Challenges of design, workflow, and contractual relations. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 157, 7–14.

McGonigle, D., &Mastrian, K. G. (2018). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4^thed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning. Understanding Workflow Design Essay