Nature of the case study project
The paper mainly reflects on “International Medical Center (IMC)”, which is a multi-disciplinary hospital that helps in delivering services in different fields, including Orthopaedics, Cardiology, Oncology, children’s health and more. It is identified that during the Covid-19 pandemic, mandatory social distancing and lack of treatments forced the hospital authority to use the telehealth system as it is identified as one of the safest interactive systems between patients and doctors. With the help of Telehealth, the doctors can be able to keep track of the patient’s health and can monitor those who experienced other types of difficulties due to Covid. The Telehealth initiative is used for providing specialized health care facilities in the hospitals for increasing the quality as well as the reach of the healthcare services to each and every patient who is admitted to the Covid unit.
The primary objectives of the project are as follows:
- To provide quality healthcare services to the patients by maintaining social distancing;
- To monitor patients recovering from Covid-19 after their discharge from the hospital;
- To prevent the exposure to risk factors by virtually communicating with the general practitioner or specialist;
The outbreak of coronavirus disease is considered a public health emergency of international concern. During such a situation, it becomes quite difficult to provide proper health services to the patients who are suffering from Covid by maintaining social distancing and by following all the necessary protocols. Additionally, the number of doctors is limited in the hospital, whereas the number of patients is increasing due to a high spike in the covid cases (Monaghesh & Hajizadeh, 2020). The higher authority of the hospital finds it quite difficult to provide quality services to the patients in the Covid unit. After discussion with the board of directors, the hospital decided to implement a Telehealth application within the hospital so that with the help of the app, it becomes easy to provide quality health services to the patients.
It is assumed that the Telehealth application is the most effective as well as a sustainable solution for proper prevention, precaution as well as treatment to minimize the spread of Covid-19 viruses. The implementation of Telehealth would be beneficial in properly bridging the gap that exists between the physicians and the patients and further provides the opportunity to get a quality health service even at the time of the pandemic (Doraiswamy et al., 2020). The use of Telehealth applications further helps in minimizing the risk of Covid-19 exposure from the patients. Additionally, many chronic patients can be able to get proper and scheduled teleconsultations in order to minimize the risk of exposure to Covid-19.
It is identified that in order to implement the Telehealth application, the project team perform the following tasks that are mainly performed during the project.
- Analyzing the issues: Firstly, it is quite crucial to analyze the issues and challenges that IMC is undergoing during the pandemic in order to understand the need of the hospital and its patients.
- Determining best solutions: After analyzing the problem, a number of solutions are suggested, and each of the solutions is analyzed for determining which of the solution is helpful in achieving the objectives of the project (Picciotto, 2020). After proper analysis, it is identified that Telehealth would be the best effective and sustainable solution.
- Estimating time and budget: It is analyzed that a total time of around 40 days is mainly needed for implementing the system within a budget of around $70,000.
- Hiring stakeholders: After the estimation of time and budget, the stakeholders who are hired for undertaking the project includes the project manager, project planner, financial manager, HR manager, IT manager, application manager, tester, database administrator, coder, sponsor and more.
- Implementing applications: After the stakeholders are hired, the project team provides the instruction of implementing the Telehealth application within the hospital in order to provide excellent services to the patients (Tereso et al., 2019).
- Testing: After the implementation of the system, the entire operation of the application is tested for ensuring that the patients are getting excellent health care services.
The five phases of project management that are used for the implementation of Telehealth applications are analyzed below:
The stakeholders who are involved in the implementation of the Telehealth project are mainly listed below:
- Project manager
- Project planner
- Financial manager
- HR manager
- IT manager
- Application manager
- Coder
- Database administrator
- Tester
- Sponsors
The undertaken Telehealth project will impact the patients, doctors as well as other health practitioners who are associated with the project.
The project manager and the project sponsor are the stakeholders who mainly takes the responsibility of analyzing the project sucess (Wu et al., 2021).
Nature of projects, programmes and portfolio and their management
The expectations from the project are that it will provide quality health services to the patients in the covid unit in spite of the fact that doctors and nurses are limited in number in comparison to the spike of covid cases. Additionally, it will also reduce the exposure of the virus among doctors and nurses.
The budget which is allocated in the project is quite limited, and thus, it will be quite hard for the project team to finish the work within the budget that is allocated and by avoiding financial hurdles during the project.
Regular meetings must be organized for creating a shared understanding or information regarding the outcomes of the project, as all the team members are given equal opportunity to provide their views and ideas on the project (Ika et al., 2020).
The main objective of the project is to provide excellent health services to the patients by maintaining social distancing and other Covid protocols.
The main goal is to provide excellent services to the patients by minimizing the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
The tasks and sub-tasks that will be executed during the implementation of Telehealth in IMC hospital are mainly showcased below:
Figure 1: Activities and sub-activities of the project
(Source: Created by Author)
The total time that is needed for executing the project is around 40 days, with a budget of around $70,000.
It is identified that in order to execute the project, the resources that are needed include human resources, hardware & software resources, as well as financial resources.
The project can experience time and budget constraints during the project; however, if the project team manages the total time and budget of the project well, then the chances of occurring project constraints will get reduced.
The SMART goals for undertaking the implementation of the Telehealth project are mainly elaborated below:
- Specific: The main objective is to implement Telehealth services for the patients in the IMC hospital at the covid unit.
- Measurable: The recovery rate of the patients will be increased by around 20%, and the cases of covid will also reduce by 15%.
- Attainable: An IT team was hired in order to attain the goals and objectives of the project quite well.
- Realistic: Proper health care services can be given to the patients by maintaining social distancing for minimizing the spread of Covid—19.
- Timeframe: It is identified that in order to implement Telehealth services in IMC, a time of around 40 days is needed.
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Project name: Implementation of Telehealth services in IMC hospital |
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Purpose: The main purpose is to provide excellent health services to the patients amid the Covid-19 pandemic when social distancing is mandatory. |
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High-level description Requirements The main requirement of the project is to provide Telehealth services to the patients so that the patients can be treated despite maintaining social distancing. Scope The scope of the project includes: o Coding and code validation o Database development o Development of functionalities for doctors and burses o Implementation of the system o Testing Risk o Due to a lack of budget, the project manager can experience financial hurdles during the progress of the project. o Lack of testing can also cause an operational issue in the Telehealth app and which is considered a major risk as it can impact the health services. o Lack of schedule slippage can cause delay during the progress of the project, and the completion date of the project can be postponed. Assumptions It is assumed that the project will get accomplished within 40 days by utilizing a budget of around $70,000. Constraints Lack of budget management can create financial hurdles during the project, which is a major project constraint. Milestone
Schedule The total time that is needed for implementing Telehealth in the hospital IMC is around 40 days. Cost estimate The total cost that is needed for undertaking the project is around $70,000. List of stakeholders The list of stakeholders are as follows: o Project manager o Project planner o Financial manager o HR manager o IT manager o Application manager o Coder o Database administrator o Tester o Sponsors |
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Sign off The project charter will be signed by the project manager, the project sponsor and by the board of directors. |
The WBS that is provided below showcases the main activities and sub-activities of the project.
Figure 2: WBS
(Source: Created by Author)
The resources which are required for implementing the Telehealth within the hospital “IMC” are mainly elaborated below:
People: The stakeholders who are involved within the project are as follows:
- Project manager
- Project planner
- Financial manager
- HR manager
- IT manager
- Application manager
- Coder
- Database administrator
- Tester
Equipment: The hardware and software include desktop, mouse, hard disk, testing tool, designing tool and more.
Facilities: Extra charges will be paid to the stakeholders who work extra hours during the progress of the project.
The Telehealth project is needed in order to provide extra-ordinary health services to the patients who are exposed to the Covid-19 virus by maintaining social distancing and other protocols. With the help of Telehealth, the doctors can be able to keep track of the patient’s health and can be able to provide suggestions on a regular basis.
The stakeholders who are responsible for undertaking each task and subtask of the project are mainly showcased in the below figure.
Figure 3: Resources for each task
(Source: Created by Author)
The time which is mainly needed for finishing each of the project tasks is mainly showcased in the below figure.
Initiation phase
Figure 4: Duration of each task
(Source: Created by Author)
The dependencies of each of the project activities is mainly reflected in the below figure that showcases how project tasks are interconnected.
Figure 5: Dependencies
(Source: Created by Author)
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Work |
Checkpoints |
|
Development of project management plan |
ü |
|
Estimation of budget |
ü |
|
Estimation of time |
ü |
|
Development of charter |
ü |
|
Preparation of project implementation |
ü |
Figure 6: Project management plan
(Source: Created by Author)
A proper plan must be developed during this phase such that all the team members work collaboratively rather than working as an individual. It is also necessary for them to health each and has proper communication with the team members so that they can accomplish the project goals (Aanbari & Kwak, 2018). Additionally, the team members must be kept enthusiastic and motivated and have proper decision-making power.
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Message |
Involved |
Main stakeholder |
Frequency |
Medium |
|
Sharing status report |
Project manager |
Project planner |
Weekly |
|
|
Kick-off information |
Team members |
Project manager |
Once |
Meeting |
|
Sharing financial budget |
Sponsor |
Financial manager |
Monthly |
|
|
Testing report |
IT manager |
Team leaders |
After testing |
|
|
Risk |
Impact |
Probability |
Management |
|
Conflict among project team |
High |
Likely |
Managing conflict by communicating with the project stakeholders on a regular basis. |
|
Schedule slippage |
Very High |
Likely |
Extra resources must be hired for managing delays. |
|
Budget shortfall |
Very High |
Very Likely |
Sponsors must be requested for the extra fund. |
|
Lack of testing |
High |
Possible |
Hiring experienced testers for undertaking testing quite well. |
It is identified that in order to resolve the conflict that occurs within the project, it is necessary to communicate with the conflicting parties so that the conflict that arises during the parties can be managed quite well. Communication is one of the important tools for resolving the conflict between two different parties.
It is identified that in order to resolve the conflict that occurs during the project, it is necessary to use the following steps:
- It is necessary to communicate with the team members who are part of the conflict so that a proper resolution can be identified.
- Secondly, compromising is also one of the options for resolving the conflict that occurs.
- Accommodation helps in resolving conflict and further smoothens one party’s acquiescing by giving the opposing party the facilities of resolving the problem (Bjorvatn & Wald, 2018).
The status report reflects that the project is on track, and the project is around 29% complete. The project is on track, and it is assumed that the project will be completed on time.
Figure 7: Project status report
(Source: Created by Author)
It is identified that the total time that was assigned for the project was insufficient; however, as the hospital cannot delay the project, therefore, they need additional resources to finish the work as soon as possible and therefore, the total cost of the project increases by $7,000.
The higher authority of the hospital analyzes the changes and have identified that the change is necessary for finishing the project as soon as possible, and thus the project is accepted.
The accepted change will be documented, and further, it will be updated in the project so that the team members have a clear idea of the project.
The change during the project is communicated to each of the stakeholders who are involved within the project so that they can take the right action.
During the closure phase that is the last phase, the project team members would take the following initiatives that are mainly elaborated below for ensuring that the project is successfully closed.
- Review: Firstly, the project work is reviewed for making sure that all project activities are completed. However, the project team members identified that some of the activities of the closure are pending, which is completed within the next 10 days. The figure that is provided below showcases the remaining activities and the total time needed for closing the project (Ma et al., 2018).
- Finishing administrative tasks: After making sure that the project objectives are accomplished, the project manager obtains approval from the team members and the clients and further undertakes all the pending transactions of the project.
- Approval from the sponsor and other stakeholders: After clearance of the pending transaction, the project manager takes approval from the sponsor as well as other involved stakeholders of the project for ensuring that the project is complete as per the objectives. Additionally, a formal meeting is also arranged for sending out a formal shutdown of all project activities as well as formal acceptance of the project (Mohammed et al., 2019).
- Assessment of team: It is necessary to thank all the team members as well as supervisors who are involved in the project after the closure of the project. Additionally, a proper learning document is also created, which would guide other team members as well as a project manager who will undertake a similar type of project in the future.
The project team members and the project stakeholders who are associated with the work of the Telehealth project are mainly elaborated below:
- Project manager: The project manager guides the entire team and helps in planning, executing and monitoring the entire project quite successfully (Derakhshan, Turner & Mancini, 2019).
- Project planner: The project planner is mainly responsible for creating proper plans for the project.
- IT manager: The IT manager is responsible for implementing Telehealth within the hospital IMC.
- Sponsors: The sponsors are responsible for funding the project that is mainly undertaken for the Telehealth project.
- Tester: The testers undertake testing of the Telehealth in order to ensure proper operation of the system such that it provides excellent services to the patients.
- Coder: The coder writes codes as per the needs of the IMC hospital in order to develop functionalities within the Telehealth system (Lappi et al., 2018).
- Database administrator: The database administrator is the individual who stores data and information of the patients, including their medical history and personal details.
The strategies that are important for attracting and involving stakeholders and organizations who may be affected by the project in order to have effective decision making and project execution are elaborated below:
- Firstly, it is necessary to survey the stakeholders and their views towards the project so that the project manager would get a proper chance to influence them by elaborating the benefits that Telehealth would provide (Sirisomboonsuk et al., 2018).
- Secondly, in order to engage stakeholders, it is necessary to prioritize stakeholders by interest and influence for understanding the involvement in the project.
- Regular meetings would also be helpful in engaging stakeholders as well as an organization that would get affected by the project. It would be a great initiative for promoting the new initiative taken by the hospital.
- It is also necessary to log meetings so that proper information is maintained in an organized way so that it becomes easy to engage the stakeholders and other affected parties towards the project.
While monitoring the progress of the project, it is identified that by 18th March, 29% of the project is complete, which showcases that the project is on track, and thus, it is assumed that the project is track and it is progressing as per the allocated budget and time. The project status report is mainly provided below.
Gather project information
Figure 8: Status report
(Source: Created by Author)
While monitoring the project, the project team experiences a lot of issues and challenges during the execution phase that needs to rectify. Some of the roadblocks are as follows:
- Absence of the experienced team members during their working hours created a challenging situation in some circumstances (Lee, Scarpiniti & Uncini, 2020).
- Secondly, lack of schedule tracking causes sharing of wrong information among the project stakeholders, which also act as a roadblock for the project.
Conclusion
It can be concluded that proper implementation of Telehealth in IMC at the covid unit would be quite beneficial in providing quality health services to the patients by maintaining the social distancing protocols. The paper discusses all the phases that are needed for proper project execution. Additionally, the paper discusses project governance as well as strategies for engaging stakeholders and teams. Furthermore, the project is tracked using project metrics.
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