System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) is “the process of acquiring or upgrading an electronic information system includes an initial investigation, systems analysis, iterations of design, system implementation, and finally, on-going maintenance” (McLean, Frisch, & Roudsari, 2015, para 7) . The healthcare organizations that do not include nurses in each stage of SDLC when purchasing and implementing new healthcare information technology end up facing issues afterwards. Nurses are in majority in healthcare and uses the health information technology as an end user day in and out. It is essential to involve end users in the SDLC process to obtain the most out of the electronic information system (McLean, Frisch, & Roudsari, 2015).    

The initial stage is investigation, if nurses are not involved in this stage an organization might pick a system that is not suitable for nursing care and does not work well with the workflows. System analysis is next stage. Not have nurses involved in this stage could result into a system failure. Nurse are considered experts in their fields and know the needs of the patients and providers. System analysis is “the process of studying a procedure or business or physiological function in order to identity its goals and purposes and to discover operations and procedure for accomplishing them in an efficient way” (Systems analysis, 2020). Nurses would be the best in system analysis as they know their workflows well and would be able to analyze the new system being introduced by applying it to their daily routine. If nurses are not involved in this process at the time of implementing, there would be issues with understanding workflows. Iterations of design is the process of testing, analyzing and refining (iteration, 2020). If nurses are not involved in this process, there will be lots of issues, as testing would not have been completed by the end users and when they actually use it there will be mistakes as builders are not the ones using the system and might have a different concept. System implementation would not work without the help of nurses as nurses usually train other nurses. Nurse know the workflow and can explain other nurses in a way and language they understand.  Nurse are needed for ongoing maintenance as they would use the system every day and would be able to point out improvement ideas and what needs a fix.

            Nurses have to work with information technologist hand in hand when it comes to SDLC process. A nurse informaticist is a good resource for this as they know the best of both worlds. Involving nurses who are end-users helps facilitate a smooth transition to a new technology and increase the buy-in of the system (Weckman & Janzen, 2009).

References

iteration. (2020, July 23). Retrieved from Lexico by Oxford: https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/iteration

McLean, A., Frisch, N., & Roudsari, A. (2015, para 7, December 19). Nursing’s Voice in Healthcare IT Acquisition Decisions. Retrieved from Canadian Journal of Nursing Informatics: http://cjni.net/journal/?p=4248

Systems analysis. (2020, Jul 23). Retrieved from Merriam-Webster: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/systems%20ANALYSIS

Weckman, H., & Janzen, S. (2009, May 02). The Critical Nature of Early Nursing Involvement for Introducing New Technologies. Retrieved from ANA Periodicals Vol 14 : https:ojin.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategoris/ANAMarketplace/ANAPeriodicals/OJIN/TableofContents/Vol142009/No2May09/Nursing-Involvement-and-Technology.html