Project Management Assignment: Design and Implementation of My Health Record
Question
Task
You are required to prepare a 1600 word report on project management assignment in which you are to analyze the success and failure factors of a major Australian project by considering its ethical compromises.
Answer
1. Chosen Project – Design and Implementation of My Health Record
My Health Records System selected herein project management assignment aims to collect the health data from patients and store it on their website to reduce time in gathering information about the patient at the time of hospitalization or lab tests. The implementation process was conducted in two stages included patients who suffer inpatient or outpatient surgery.
2. Comprehensive Analysis of Success Factors
My Health Record makes an inventory of an individual’s health. Apart from various health-related issues like medical conditions, various treatments, allergies, detailed records of medicines, scans, and tests, the name of the healthcare providers, and Medicare are also included.
2.1. Initiating
The Australian government has taken an initiative to keep patients’ data online to help the doctors and health providers in case of emergency. Doctors can get similar information about patients and the time will be saved at the time of hospitalization or lab tests. The model would be a complete opt-out participation model that means each Australian will get their health report unless they choose not to. It supports healthcare integration and improves healthcare in both quality and efficiency. My Health Records estimates the time and costs for the project and the objectives of the project have been discussed briefly among the employees.
2.2. Planning
An e-health record system was first proposed in 2009. My Health Record system was first launched in 2012. By implementing the system both money and lives are saved with safer medicines management and better treatment. Data analytics will enable innovation and the planning of health care will lead to better and evidence-based clinical approaches. The Australian government has announced that every Australian has My Health Record by the end of 2018. The opt-out period was extended upto 2019.My Health Record plans the ways they want to record the data of patients and some policies are adapted to ensure the security of the patients.
2.3. Executing
The process is very efficient as it provides an immediate opt-out for the patients. It provides high-quality service. Direct connection of individuals with their health information gives various benefits(Biggs et al., 2019). The project management helps the patients to be empowered and active in their health by contributing to their My Health Records. The project management designs products innovatively and provides digital solutions that are easy to handle. Patients have all of their medical data in one place in one place and can able to access by own.
2.4. Controlling
My Health Record controls patients’ data securely and with an effective method. It allows for the health to generate and upload Advanced Care Planning and Goals of Care documents into My Health Record. The Australian government has focused on the platform-based approach termed electronic health records(Eigner et al., 2019). My Health Record System has implied a nationwide helpline number to connect with the customers. Not only can that, but a patient can also communicate with them through chat.
2.5. Closing
My Health Record is a digital inventory of individuals' health records. Australian government takes an initiative to make health records easily accessible anytime, anywhere. It avoids patients to misuse drugs and also enhances patients’ self-management. It also reduces the time to gather information about a patient as well as avoids duplication of services. Project management also takes some protections to keep sensitive data secure.
3. Comprehensive Analysis of Potential Fail Factors
3.1. Initiating
The Australian government has taken various initiatives to keep all records of patients to reduce time but the project does not successfully present due to some factors. (Muhammed and Wickramasinghe, 2017). It has been accused that My Health Record System does not keep patients securely as they share the information with third-parties that causes hacking activity. The audit review finds that it fails to manage cyber security risks on its website. the database on which doctors upload the clinical information about patients is not at all secured.
3.2. Planning
As per the plan of My Health Records, it does not imply required policies that help to make the project successful. It does not focus on the foreseen problems and their solutions. There are no proper job divisions between the employees and stakeholders. The management has not maintained honesty while the implication of the values of the project. Complications came as there is no open conversation system between the employees and stakeholders.
3.3. Executing
The project came to a failure as there was no master plan of the project to the project management. As there is an immediate opt-out option for the patients so it can be seen that most of the Australians have opted-out from the system. The expectations of patients are not fulfilled properly due to cyber security reasons. The upper management does not supervise project activities and guidelines to execute the project successfully.
3.4. Controlling
Project failure due to inability to meet customer expectations (Oboreh, 2019). My Health Record System does not satisfy their customers as there are lots of securities issues found in the system. Various malware attacks and hacking fail the project and most of the patients have found their health records. Stakeholders expressed 9 types of privacy concerns about My Health Record.
3.5. Closing
Although the program has been started with great initiatives by the Australian government to gather the health information of patients the project has come to an end with lots of security issues. Stakeholders identified major privacy concerns and expressed their views on Twitter (Pang et al., 2020). The audit report has also identified that there is no end-to-end encryption on the system model under the opt-out model. The project was found largely effective but the government could not guarantee all the security issues to ensure the privacy of patients.
4. Comprehensive Analysis of Ethical Considerations
4.1. Initiating
My Health Records System takes some initiative to consider the ethical aspects of the project. It should be transparent with the development of the health care system. A security issue has become one of the major ethical aspects of the project because of increasing hacker activity (Komesaroff and Kerridge, 2018). The project management should briefly analyze all the employees about the plans and procedure of the project. My Health Records System should estimate the project timing and the cost of the project. Project management should be honest with the data collection process of patients. My Health Records System should not share patients’ data with a third party under any circumstances accept a legal case. Ethical aspects of the project will be discussed by the project leader and health personnel to avoid conflict among the ethical principles during the project initiation stages.
4.2. Planning
My Health Records System should focus on the public interest while developing their planning process. Planning needs fair policies and action to ensure the clarity of the project. Conflict of values during planning should be considered with proper precision to ensure quality. My Health Records Systems should focus on the necessity for fairness and honesty among the participants during the project (Altamirano Sánchez and Macedo Chagolla, 2020). The project manager should understand the foreseen problems that may arise during the project and propose a probable solution for those beforehand. Planning of My Health Records System should make sure fair job distribution among the employees. Additionally, it also needs to provide the provision of fair and open conversation among employees and stakeholders to avoid any complications.
4.3. Executing
My Health Records should execute the project as per the master project plan and evaluate the plans ethically to deliver the outcome. It should focus on the scope of the project. It collects all personal and health data from patients and uploads it on their site while maintaining privacy (Porsdam Mann, Savulescu and Sahakian, 2016). My Health Records System should change the project deliverables if required while maintaining the project needs. It should be critically approved and evaluated effectively and efficiently. All the responsibilities of all the parties involved in the project may be affected by a project change. The project management should define how it will be evaluated by the upper management. My Health Records System is required to monitor and measure project activities to stay on track.
4.4. Controlling
My Health Care System should compare the objectivities, requirements, risks, and budget of the project with the deliverables. It will control all data of the patients. Patients can access their health records. It allows for the health to generate and upload Advanced Care Planning and Goals of Care documents into My Health Record. A helpline number and regular customer care system controls the whole procedure.
4.5. Closing
My Health Records System helps to store the data of patients in their portal. The Australian government is taking the initiative to access patients’ data easily. The personal information of patients is secure and highly encrypted. The data is not shared with third parties that cause data loss.
5. Conclusions
My Health Record System keeps patients' health records to make it easier and safer for the doctors as well as the patients in the case of an emergency. It helps to reduce the time for patients as it enhances health integrity. Despite all advantages and efficiency of the system, the project could not be completed successfully as the sensitive data of the patients had been leaked and most of the Australians had opted out of the system.
6. References
Altamirano Sánchez, Y. A. and Macedo Chagolla, F. (2020) ‘Ethical Responsibility of Financiers: Project Management Perspective’, Handbook on Ethics in Finance, pp. 1–35.
Biggs, J. S. et al. (2019) ‘Digital health benefits evaluation frameworks: building the evidence to support Australia’s National Digital Health Strategy’, Med J Aust, 210(6 Suppl), pp. S9–S12.
Komesaroff, P. A. and Kerridge, I. (2018) ‘The My Health Record debate: ethical and cultural issues’, Internal medicine journal, 48(11), pp. 1291–1293.
Eigner, I., Hamper, A., Wickramasinghe, N. and Bodendorf, F., 2019. Success factors for national eHealth strategies: a comparative analysis of the Australian and German eHealth system. International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 21(4), pp.399-424.
Muhammed, I. and Wickramasinghe, N. (2017) ‘User Perceptions and Expectations of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR): A Case Study of Australia’s e-health Solution’, in Proceedings of the 50th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, p. 3441.
Oboreh, L. E. (2019) ‘Problems and prospects of project execution in Nigeria: a study of construction companies operating in Delta state’, E3 Journal of Business Management and Economics., 10(1), pp. 9–16.
Pang, P.C.I., McKay, D., Chang, S., Chen, Q., Zhang, X. and Cui, L., 2020. Privacy concerns of the Australian My Health Record: Implications for other large-scale opt-out personal health records. Information Processing & Management, 57(6), p.102364.
Porsdam Mann, S., Savulescu, J. and Sahakian, B. J. (2016) ‘Facilitating the ethical use of health data for the benefit of society: Electronic health records, consent and the duty of easy rescue’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 374(2083), p. 20160130.
