Introducing a process manager in healthcare: An experience report

Abstract

To be efficient and patient focused, healthcare units need to be process oriented and integrated with the processes and IT systems of other healthcare units. A process manager facilitates integration of different systems by using graphical and executable process models. The process manager also communicates directly with healthcare personnel via desktop computers and mobile devices. This article reports on a Swedish project where a prototype system was developed and tested with several healthcare units. The experience shows several advantages and opportunities. For example, current information about patients can be transferred automatically between healthcare units; resource intensive manual tasks can be replaced with automated tasks; and long-term process monitoring and quality assessment can be enabled. However, introducing a process manager requires attention to issues of security, ethics and legality. Healthcare units may also show differences in security awareness and IT maturity, which could obstruct the introduction of a process manager. Copyright © 2005 SAGE Publications.