Healthcare Technology Integration

Stevens Medicine has a problem: the hospital adopted an institution-wide technological solution without a strategy to account for the necessary organizational change behind its realization. When fully implemented, the technology generates data on the movement and location of patients, providers, and equipment (Sooyoung Yoo et al., 2018). Comparable institutions have utilized the data to drive improvements in equipment management, employee workflow, and patient experience. While the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) expects to create a new department to facilitate these institution-wide initiatives, the endeavor must account for a historically Divisional structure and culture (Robbins & Judge, 2019). 

While individual departments could apply the technology within their units and context, the main benefits come from a holistic organizational view. As defined by the CEO, the purpose of an RTLS department would be to gather the organization-wide patterns, assess their implications, and make strategic decisions that impact all departments. Within the context of one of the staff feedback items, the department could use data infusion pump movement across the hospital to develop insights about which departments are falling below their minimum number of required pumps (Martinez et al., 2020). Where to source those additional pumps could then be informed by which departments are above their maximum number of required pumps. From these foundations, an infusion pump management system could be established with automated processes to ensure that all departments are adequately supplied.

At this intersection of intention and capability is where the problem begins. While departments across Stevens Medicine supported the decision to install the RTLS technology for the purported equipment-locating benefits, the concept of a new cross-cutting department was not agreed upon or considered. The CEO of Stevens Medicine stands behind the vendor’s recommendation and wants the RTLS department to come to fruition. While considerations of departmental logistics and technical training will be touched on, the primary purpose of this paper is to use relevant frameworks to understand what such a change is asking of the institution and outline how the change will be effectively implemented within that context.