A design for modelling the impact of information and communication technologies on patient journeys in neonatal intensive care units

Abstract

This paper presents the conceptual model of a survey and knowledge translation methodology to enable the assessment of the implementation of technology in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in order to determine the impact of information technology (IT) on information flows and patient care. Survey data, will be completed by healthcare practitioners from multiple roles, for various patient care scenarios, levels of care, and hospitals, and will then be translated using a structured data modelling approach into patient journey models. The data model is defined such that users can develop queries to generate patient journey models based on a pre-defined Patient Journey Model Architecture (PaJMa). PaJMa models will then be analyzed to build a visual representation of information flows and the use of IT in the NICU. The models will offer a sophisticated view of health informatics usage, providing not only details of what IT solutions a hospital utilizes, but also the impact that the IT solutions have when integrated into the patient journey, how they support the patient information flow, and why they improve the patient journey. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.