Readers Write: Chief Nursing Officer Checklist for Healthcare Technology Implementations

Chief Nursing Officer Checklist for Healthcare Technology Implementations
By Robert Wittwer

Robert Wittwer is SVP of professional services at Ascom Americas of Morrisville, NC.

CNOs and CIOs know that patient-centered technology projects perform their best when clinical workflows drive the selection, integration, and adoption of solutions. However, there are several key considerations they should keep in mind before investing in their next technology-driven patient care improvement project:

1. Bring the right people to the table early. Gather the right set of stakeholders across IT, nursing, finance, etc. to define your needs and be part of the selection team for a technology vendor.
2. View technology-driven solutions as implementations that require a more complex set of adoption principles than an installation. Begin with the end in mind and not the technologies available.
3. Define the objectives and strategy the technology should achieve. A CNO can look across the overall landscape and consider bigger patient care questions. Instead of asking, “Can it be done?” ask, “Should it be done?” Avoid the temptation to use all the capabilities or features of a technology if they don’t benefit your objectives. For example, an alert may not need to be sent if it doesn’t require a nurse to respond to it. Alert fatigue is a leading reason for unanswered alerts.
4. Think long term. Whether it’s future-proofing your investment or ensuring it’s agile enough to respond to unanticipated events like COVID-19, think about your technology solution’s shelf life. Ensure you’re updating software frequently and having regular conversations about using the technology to adjust your workflows so your technology can support how you do nursing today.
5. Prepare for organizational adoption. While adopting new technologies and workflows requires nurses to change habits, by having clearly defined objectives for its impact and involving stakeholders in the process, you are better prepared to shorten the time it takes to adopt new ways of working.