Clini-Chat: Do You Have the Right People Informing Your RFID Projects? (Possibly Not, Says These Two Solution Engineers)
You need more than the “stakeholders” involved from day one because buy-in starts – but doesn’t end – at the top of your healthcare organization. This is whose opinion and support matters most.
###
Who are the clinical and non-clinical stakeholders that need to be involved in scoping, planning, testing, implementing, and maintaining asset tracking (or asset management) systems in healthcare?
Why is it important to bring these people in?
When should they be brought in?
These are among the many questions that I asked my friends Hector Meza (Zebra) and Erik Davidson (Tagnos) on the latest episode of CliniChat:
What prompted me to ask these questions?
Failure. Frustration. Fragmentation.
Over eight in 10 (84%) of non-clinical healthcare executives admitted in this Zebra-commissioned Hospital Materials Management Vision Study that digitizing asset tracking systems at the point-of-care is a priority for their organization. Yet, 74% say it’s challenging for their organization to integrate devices, sensors, and technologies to manage materials, equipment, supplies, and pharmaceuticals across their facilities.
Why?
Hector and Erik have some interesting answers.
LISTEN NOW OR DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN LATER
The Dichotomy of Modern Healthcare Modernization Projects
There is constant talk about division of responsibilities in healthcare settings: “I’m responsible for this; you’re responsible for that.” And, yes, having ownership of certain aspects of healthcare operations is important for accountability. However, divisiveness can become detrimental when people feel that others are overstepping, or they are being excluded from decisions that directly impact them.
So, when it comes to driving operational changes, especially technology-facilitated changes, we must be united in our project mission, vision, and execution. And by “we” I mean anyone and everyone who may asked to facilitate or support these types of changes in some way, including:
- IT
- Clinical staff
- Administrators
- Operations
- Finance
- Procurement
- Supply chain managers
- Informatics managers
- Non-clinical support staff
There may be a project manager (PM) running point on a digitalization project like this, but the PM can’t be the only one steering the ship. Too many people will be impacted by any technology we put in place in a healthcare setting to allow one person, or even a small advisory group to call all the shots. Every single person impacted by this project, even indirectly, needs to be invited to define the requirements, influence the project’s direction, and participate in its execution. And everyone needs to be kept appraised of progress and given the ability to speak up if things aren’t going as expected. We can’t keep people in the dark until it’s “their turn” on the stage.
If we aren’t working together from the start, if we don’t have the right people at the table from the moment we start considering ways to improve asset management or asset tracking capabilities, then it won’t matter if “the right approach” is mapped out with the help of outside consultants. It won’t matter if you make “the right call” and opt to spend the money on an RFID system for asset locating from the start. Those projects will fail. Frustration will flare. The organization will further fragment into “the stakeholders” and “everyone else,” with a lot of finger pointing to follow.
Why?
What Causes People to Turn Against a Great Idea
Without the right individuals providing their expertise and insights, projects can suffer from a lack of direction and focus. There needs to be consensus when answering, “What are we trying to solve?” as Erik noted.
Without the right people at the table from the beginning, you might also find out (at the end) that you’ve been moving in the wrong direction all along. Or you might find that you can’t get anything moving because you can’t get the support you need from the right people at the right time.
As Hector said, “One of the worst things you can do is surprise [people when] the project is midstream.” You can’t go to them halfway through the project and say, “[This is what we’re doing] and now we need you.” Their response will be, “Why wasn’t I informed of this at the beginning?” Or they’ll say, “I can’t allocate resources [because I wasn’t aware of this project before and it’s too big of an ask.]”
The fastest way to lose people’s support is to exclude them until you really need them. So, by bringing the right people to the table early and maintaining open lines of communication, asset tracking projects can benefit from a more cohesive strategy that aligns with the organization’s overall goals and objectives.
That’s why Erik stressed, “It’s important to phase these projects very thoughtfully.”
“Having that buy-in from the beginning to say, just like an [emergency medical record] EMR, this is a project we are committing to, and we are ready to take on,” helps ensure that all parties understand their roles, responsibilities, and the project’s objectives, leading to more efficient and effective execution.
Who Should You Invite to the Party?
The stakeholders who tend to steer healthcare modernization projects are those who initiate, fund, scope, manage, and ultimately green light (or stall out) tech projects while everyone else sort of waits in the wings as the project plays out.
The people who should be steering them are those historically left standing in the wings, as they’re the ones who are ultimately producing and delivering “the show.” These are the people who must either use or manage the new technology system once it’s live. So, if they’re not invited to have an equally influential seat at the table from the beginning of the project – from the moment this project idea is even being floated about by a “stakeholder” – then it’s going to be hard to score rave reviews.
You must have buy in from stakeholders and everyone else simultaneously from the start, or else you shouldn’t start the project (yet). This is especially true when you’re trying to put new asset tracking systems in place, whether they’re based on RFID, barcode or real-time location technologies. So, listen to our conversation now to find out:
Who should be at the table throughout the project.
When should each person be at the table.
How to avoid “corporate overreach” tanking project success.
How to prevent large projects from draining resources (since most people contribute to these projects as a secondary effort to their day jobs.)
How to prevent initial project success (or failure) from hindering the successful rollout of an asset tracking system across multiple sites in a large healthcare system.
