It Implementation Failures
IT Project Implementations Failures
Joseph Garcia
HCS/483
7/4/2011
Eric Rios
IT Project Implementations Failures
There are many factors that play into failures of implementing an IT project. As in the Case Study – Memorial Health System CPOE Implementation there were clearly barriers set in place that affected leadership and staff. The purpose of this paper is to examine CPOE implementation barriers within the Memorial Health System and to determine possible methods to overcoming these challenges.
Any project or initiative is destined for trouble if its objectives and purpose are unclear. One of the many barriers present was the lack of vision shared within the organization between the physicians and management. They worried their workload would increase because CPOE systems replace verbal orders with computer-entered orders by doctors. Dr. Mark Allen, a primary care physician commented, “The hospital is trying to turn me into a $12-an-hour secretary and they aren’t even paying me $12 an hour.” (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2009) The desire to obtain a shared vision as a whole should have resulted in a presentation of what the purpose of the CPOE initiative was intended to achieve. As was the result when some of the doctors that had not left the system attended the CPOE vendor’s annual user group meeting. They saw the release of the vendor’s most recent system and immediately decided they wanted it for Memorial.
Another concern with the project was the leadership put in place by the board after the two leading champions for CPOE—Dryer and Roberts—left Memorial. Projects that are viewed as illegitimate by a large portion of the people in an organization rarely succeed (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2009). Even though Barbara Lu was a vocal opponent of the project, many members of the board still supported it. In addition, none of the board members wanted to lose a very substantial down payment to the vendor, so Lu was instructed to proceed with the implementation
Joseph Garcia
HCS/483
7/4/2011
Eric Rios
IT Project Implementations Failures
There are many factors that play into failures of implementing an IT project. As in the Case Study – Memorial Health System CPOE Implementation there were clearly barriers set in place that affected leadership and staff. The purpose of this paper is to examine CPOE implementation barriers within the Memorial Health System and to determine possible methods to overcoming these challenges.
Any project or initiative is destined for trouble if its objectives and purpose are unclear. One of the many barriers present was the lack of vision shared within the organization between the physicians and management. They worried their workload would increase because CPOE systems replace verbal orders with computer-entered orders by doctors. Dr. Mark Allen, a primary care physician commented, “The hospital is trying to turn me into a $12-an-hour secretary and they aren’t even paying me $12 an hour.” (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2009) The desire to obtain a shared vision as a whole should have resulted in a presentation of what the purpose of the CPOE initiative was intended to achieve. As was the result when some of the doctors that had not left the system attended the CPOE vendor’s annual user group meeting. They saw the release of the vendor’s most recent system and immediately decided they wanted it for Memorial.
Another concern with the project was the leadership put in place by the board after the two leading champions for CPOE—Dryer and Roberts—left Memorial. Projects that are viewed as illegitimate by a large portion of the people in an organization rarely succeed (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2009). Even though Barbara Lu was a vocal opponent of the project, many members of the board still supported it. In addition, none of the board members wanted to lose a very substantial down payment to the vendor, so Lu was instructed to proceed with the implementation
References: Tran-Tan, N. (2011). CPOE Implementation Barriers in Healthcare Organizations. Business Advantage Services, INC. Retrieved from http://bas-consulting.net/consulting2/?p=15 Wager, K. A., Lee, F. W., & Glaser, J. P. (2009). Health care information systems: A practical approach for health care management (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.