Leading Change in Health Informatics (Coursera)

Whether you're a nurse, pharmacist, physician, other allied health professional or come from a non-clinical background--you know that Health Informatics skills are in demand. This newly launched 5-course specialization by JohnsHopkins faculty members provides a solid foundation for anyone wanting to become a leader in one of the hottest fields in healthcare.
As health informaticians, we need to be very clear in our understanding of the current state (as-is), the future state (to-be) and any unintended consequences that can result from our interventions. Prior to introducing large scale change, we need to assess whether a healthcare organization is truly ready for change. This involves taking into account an organization's current culture and values. Successfully leading change through health informatics also requires strategic planning and careful financial considerations. Proper workflow redesign and a clear change management strategy are of utmost importance when introducing new technologies and in ensuring their successful adoption and proper use.
By the end of this course, students will become familiar with examples of successful and failed attempts at change in health informatics, and the reasons for each. Students will be armed with tools to help optimize their chances for successfully leading change in their respective organizations.
Course 2 of 5 in the Health Informatics Specialization.
What You Will Learn

• Describe essential steps in the process of successfully leading change in health IT organizations.
• Recognize the importance of multidisciplinary and interprofessional teamwork in health informatics.
• Utilize several common project management and strategic planning tools used by health informaticists.
• Apply best practices for successful change management in health informatics.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Leading Change in Health Informatics
This module introduces students to the role of leadership, teamwork, and governance in health informatics. We use various real world examples to help familiarize you with a well known 8-step process for successfully leading change. During the module, students will be oriented to the purpose of organizational readiness assessments. You'll learn about the role of clinical governance in health IT and the role it plays in designing and optimizing clinical decision support systems.

WEEK 2
Project Management for Health Informaticists
Knowing how to manage projects effectively is an essential skill for health informaticians. In this module, students will be introduced to the standard terminology in project management. We’ll start by defining what a project is and explaining the phases of a project life cycle in the context of health IT. You'll become familiar with the role of a work breakdown structure, Gantt Charts, and process maps. You'll see examples of common project related pitfalls such as groupthink and scope creep. Throughout the course, we incorporate case studies from real health informaticians in the field, both clinical and non-clinical, to illustrate the importance of each of these concepts.

WEEK 3
Strategic Planning in Health IT
This modules introduces students to the importance of strategic planning when leading healthcare transformation efforts. Case studies on the role of strategic planning in mHealth, hospital acquisitions and various telemedicine initiatives are woven in throughout the course with interviews of subject matter experts from across Johns Hopkins. Students will learn about commonly used strategic planning tools such as: SWOT and Scenario Planning. We’ll also review the considerations that go into an organization's decision to Build or Buy and students will be oriented to commonly used terms in procurement such as RFIs, RFPs, TCO, and ROI. During the course, you'll be introduced to the basics of vendor evaluation and will have gain experience in using a vendor evaluation matrix for purposes of decision making.

WEEK 4
Change Management
In this module we’ll cover the complexities of change management in health information systems. Students will be introduced to the PDSA (Plan Do Study Act) cycle. We'll demonstrate the value of taking into account the current clinical workflow and how any intervention will impact it. Challenges associated with usability and workarounds with health information systems are explored. Students will have an opportunity to review and critically interpret a go-live-readiness assessment. This module covers best practices in change management and the need for proper documentation and effective communication of changes.