Introduction
1.1 Background - Problem statement:
A significant part of the operation of any hospital involves the
acquisition, management and timely retrieval of great volumes of
information. This information typically involves; patient personal
information and medical history, staff information, room and ward
scheduling, staff scheduling, operating theater scheduling and various
facilities waiting lists. All of this information must be managed in an
efficient and costwise fashion so that an institution's resources may be
effectively utilized.
The City Hospital currently uses a manual system for the management and
maintenance of critical information. The current system requires numerous
paper forms, with data stores spread throughout the hospital management
infrastructure. There is a fair bit of initial training required for staff
to become familiar with the paperwork and a fair bit of time is required to
physically complete and manage/organize the forms correctly.
A major problem with the current system is that often information [on forms]
is incomplete, or does not follow management standards. This requires
corrections either at billing time, or worse, after a bill has been rejected
by AHC or an insurance company. For these reasons payments are often late
(some being delayed by many months). Forms are often lost in transit between
departments requiring a comprehensive auditing process to ensure that no
vital information is lost.
Multiple copies of the same information exist in the hospital. It is not
uncommon for patient information to be updated on some but not all data
stores. This lag between the request for a change and the actual change may
result in a potentially damaging misinformation of staff.
Finally, staff scheduling for both the wards and the operating rooms is
difficult and fraught with errors under the current system. Staff scheduling
conflicts are common, causing havoc when a ward is either understaffed or
overstaffed. Sometimes, staff with the wrong skills are scheduled, or staff
are required to work too many consecutive hours.
It is clear that the present manual system is quite cumbersome and
inefficient. While the current system is functional, the hospital's human
and capital resources are not being utilized in an efficient fashion.
1.2 Proposed Solution - the Hospital Management System:
The City Hospital has requested that Sirius Software Products design and
implement an automated Hospital Management System (HMS) to replace their
existing manual, paper based system. The new system is to control the
following information; patient information, room availability, staff and
operating room schedules, and patient invoices. These services are to be
provided in an efficient, cost effective manner, with the goal of reducing
the time and resources currently required for such tasks.
The proposed HMS will increase staff productivity and efficiency by:
- standardizing data, resulting in fewer corrections and significantly
lowering the incidence of missing or incorrect data
- consolidating data stores into one location ensuring data integrity and
providing a database for future statistical and management reporting
- reducing the time spent by staff filling out forms, freeing resources
for more critical tasks
- speeding up the billing process by having accurate, timely data,
resulting in quicker payments and a better cash flow
- increased error checking to reduce errors made in scheduling, making
schedules more reliable, increasing staff morale, and reducing the
amount of time spent by administration creating and publishing
schedules
1.3 Users of the HMS:
Any person on staff at the hospital will be able to use the system.
Normally, clerks and admitting nurses will input patient information and
print invoices, while administration staff will prepare and enter schedules.
Doctors and nurses will also be able to access the information in the HMS.
In short, the people involved with implementing the current manual system
will be the end users of the HMS.
There are no security features on the HMS. It is assumed that the network
operating system in use on the existing hardware will cover any security
issues that arise. This system itself does not distinguish
between different levels of users; all users have the same access to all
system functions.
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Last Modified Mar. 5, 1996 by
Darrell Nash