Health Information Management: Integrating Information Technology ...

INTRODUCTION 5
can draw upon to maintain on course. They are a means to ensure that the
strategy development process is seen as the vital process that it is, and to ensure
that it remains focused on the tough questions that any ambitious IT strategy will
certainly bring along.
Chapter 9 then turns towards the issue of the implementation of a PCIS.
Arguing for the strong intertwinement of IT and work practice, it restates the
point that PCIS implementation is a form of organizational development, and
argues how this has consequences for the management of any PCIS
implementation project. As Chapter 7, this chapter demonstrates the complexity
of such projects, and argues for a knife-edge balance between intense, bottom-up
user-participation and strong visionary management, and between controlling the
development process and letting go of control.
Chapter 10, then, mirroring Chapter 8, brings the tools that make it feasible to
run projects without the ‘control’ criticized in Chapter 9, and to have projects be
both user-driven and management-led. Again, this is no magical recipe, but a set
of decision points and steps that, when well handled, sets some of the conditions
in place for a ‘successful’ IT implementation.
Chapter 11, finally, discusses the need for PCIS evaluation. Starting with a
sketch of the PCIS evaluation field, it focuses on the so-called formative
evaluations that should be part and parcel of any PCIS development. A formative
evaluation, this chapter argues, is a necessary building block of successful IT
development and use: only in this way can the mutual learning potential between
‘work practice’ and ‘PCIS’ be fully drawn upon. Although often omitted because
of its seemingly supplementary costs, proper formative evaluation ultimately
always pays itself back —and often saves the organization for expensive mistakes.
The chapter outlines the different domains that a formative evaluation can focus
on, and discusses the reallife steps of setting up and performing such an
evaluation.
This book has a strong international orientation, comparing related
developments and drawing on examples from different countries. It is an ideal
handbook for Masters students, other postgraduate trainees, interested
professionals and general managers, and will equally provide experienced
information managers with an up to date overview of the latest developments in
their area. The book will draw heavily on case descriptions and examples (in
Case Study Boxes) to illustrate and enrich the main text, but also to enhance
their usability for teaching purposes. Every chapter starts with a list of ‘key
points’ and ‘key terms’ of the chapter, and ends with ‘discussion questions’ and
suggestions for ‘further reading’.
A NOTE ON PATIENT CARE INFORMATION
SYSTEMS AND TERMINOLOGY
Different authors, different countries, different vendors all use different
terminologies for their health care IT products. The medical informatics