I attended a very interesting workshop last Thursday, arranged by Birgitta Wallgren at EPJ (the department for Electronic Patient Records), with the Advisory Board. The topic was eHealth Benefits Realization: “It doesn’t happen all by itself”.
Advisory Board is a global research, technology, and consulting firm helping hospital and health system leaders improve the quality and efficiency of patient care. At this occasion, the Global eHealth Executive Council’s Senior Research Director Doug Thompson discussed the major activities and purposes of eHealth benefits realisation, common challenges, and tools and solutions that could be of value to the hospital in Uppsala. The audience consisted of specially invited people from the hospital, managers (physicians) from different departments and specializations, project leaders, and IT-developers in different roles. The day included the talk from Doug, supported by a power point presentation, some practical exercises, and it included a break for lunch. In smaller groups, we discussed specific issues relevant for our hospital in Uppsala and then presented our ideas to the bigger group. We got valuable input from Doug on our thoughts and ideas.
The general question was how to realize performance improvements at the hospital with the support of information technology, such as the EPR, or clinical decision support (CDS). The message from the Advisory Board is that we need to work structured, and with an awareness that this is not only a “technology project”. By making use of six best practices, developed by the Advisory Board, it is possible to realize more potentials from EPRs than the “low hanging fruit” that were harvested already. The Advisory Board’s model is to have benefit driven implementation and optimization. By clearly stating the wanted benefits and by identifying what mechanisms are driving each benefit (making it occur) you create a common ground for actors where it is possible to analyze problems and decide on valid routes for action. Else, it may happen that your gut feeling is sending you a false image of what is going on. It is important that you know where you want to be heading, and you need some tools to make sure you are on the right track. This conclusion can certainly be of help in many situations in life!
