Healthcare Project Management-Healthcare Project Management

1. Healthcare Project
Management
Mukesh Sundararajan

2.  American Recovery & Reinvestment Act
(2009)
 Included the Health Information Technology for
Economic & Clinical Health (HITECH) Act
 Increased HIPAA rules, enforcement, fines
 Creates incentives / penalties for meaningful use
of EMRs
 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
(2010)
 Accountable Care Organizations (ACO)
 Disproportionate Share payments gone
 Forces improvements in efficiencies

3.  These acts, coupled with movements to patient-
centered care, evidence-based medicine,
centers of excellence, and other forces have
spawned a current climate of what may be an
unsurpassed number of healthcare projects
 Our industry is in a state of chaos…

4. Public health and healthcare leaders need to:
• Work on the right projects
• Get the most bang from every buck
• Educate IT staff on clinical work & clinical staff on IT work
• Make investments in IT, infrastructure, and quality improvements that will allow them to
reduce costs while improving (or maintaining) quality…
Good project management is required!
Training clinical leaders on PM is a must!

5. Findings from Recent Study*
 Healthcare workers do not understand the differences
between service work and project work. They understand
activities to provide better service to patients, but they have
not been trained to make more radical, disruptive changes
that challenge the status quo.
 Healthcare projects are done to create something that is
delivered to the organization, unlike operational work which
produces outcomes aimed at patients. “In other words, it is
only once the project’s outcome is implemented and
becomes ‘the new way we work now’ that it starts
exerting its impact on patients.”
*Francois Chiocchio et al, “Stress and Performance in Health Care Project Teams,” Project
Management Institute (2012).

6. Suggestions from Recent Study
 Train healthcare workers on PM, emphasizing
collaborating on achieving project goals and
understanding their roles on project teams,
which may differ from their roles in their day-
to-day work
 Management needs to structure project teams
by properly planning workers’ time and
payment to allow them to successfully engage
in project work!

7.  There are two major “camps” of staff:
 clinical (patient focused)
 enterprise viability and sustainability (business
focused)
 Healthcare has unique terms / processes
 Projects often have separate paths that can be
divided into phases – technical and clinical
 Project management is not as mature / practiced
in healthcare
 Small changes in project success rates and can
have a large impact on patient outcomes and
delivery costs!

8.  Improving efficiency or margins is often
considered to demonstrate a lack of caring
 Expertise in the industry is critical
 Many projects affect clinical workflow, and
patient care must take priority
 Healthcare is a rapidly changing industry
 Healthcare is investing tens of billions of dollars
on new technology
 Healthcare changes are requiring the addition
of at least 70,000 more technology staff
members!

9. Why Should We Teach PM to Nurses?
 Healthcare is different and we need clinicians
leading projects
 Our risks (and rewards) are different
 We want to maintain control of our own
industry
 Nurses are typically the largest stakeholder
group impacted
 Nurses are natural communicators
 Nurses are strong leaders
 Nurses know the business
 Because our success criteria are different!

11. PM Conceptual Framework
-Same for All Projects*
*Kathy Schwalbe and Dan Furlong, Healthcare Project Management,
Schwalbe Publishing (2013).

12. Healthcare vs. Other Industries
 Projects include 10 knowledge areas and 5
process groups
 Projects have similar attributes and constraints
 Projects use similar tools and techniques
 Projects require structure and methodology
 Consumers keep expecting more for less

13.  Provide motivation to take a course(s) in PM
 Explain key concepts
 Provide real-world examples with references of
what went right, what went wrong, best
practices, healthcare perspectives, and videos
 Explain how to apply concepts with samples –
like our running case on Ventilator Associated
Pneumonia Reduction (VAPR)
 Help students apply PM practices in real-world
situations

14.  Initiating: business case, stakeholder analysis, charter
 Planning: project management plan, scope statement,
requirements traceability matrix, WBS, project schedule,
cost baseline, quality metrics, human resource plan,
project dashboard, probability/impact matrix, risk
register, supplier evaluation matrix, stakeholder
management plan
 Executing: deliverables, milestone report, change
requests, project communications, issue logs
 Monitoring and controlling: earned value chart,
accepted deliverables, quality control charts,
performance reports
 Closing: project completion form, final report, transition
plan, lessons-learned report, contract closure notice

16. Challenges in Developing and Teaching a
Course In Healthcare PM
 What are the challenges you face?
 How can we overcome them?

17. Little basis in topic
Business, project management,
healthcare, basic software
Access to projects
Privacy, complexity,
timeframe, prior knowledge
Time
Group, you, client,
breaks, graduation
GOAL Healthcare
Quality, real effect

18. Type of
Training/Course
Presentation
Seminar
Full Course,
undergrad/grad
Compressed
Course
Presence
Traditional
Online/Hybrid
Flip Course
Workgroup
Team
Pair
Individual
Project
Assignment
and
Assessment
Real or
Textbook Case
Papers/Exams
Actual Project

19.  Give them hands-on experience
 Online/executive – project assessments
 Resident/face-to-face – run live projects
 Tailor the course to your students & course
delivery method
 Use students as project resources
 Steal, adapt, then own it
 Find clever ways to connect the dots…

20.  Let them fail (a bit)
 Provide overwhelming support, tools,
templates, etc.
 Provide lots of current, real-world examples
 Provide mentors, preceptors, or access to other
healthcare project managers if possible
 Keep it real (in their terms)…

21. In Bandit Terms…
 Clarify Objectives  Drive from Atlanta to Texarkana to get 400
cases of Coors and deliver to Atlanta within 28 hrs in order to win
$80,000 for a new rig
 Prioritize Objectives  28 hours Atlanta-Texarkana-Atlanta; 400
cases
 Identify and Manage Threats  Smokies >> Blocker Car & CB
 Develop a Plan to Implement the Solution  …
 Execute the Plan  Snowman drives truck, Bandit blocker
 Manage Issues Closely  Warehouse locked; Frog; Sheriff Justice
 Communicate to Stakeholders  Breaker! Breaker!
 Manage Plan Changes  Did they adapt?
 Verify Objectives are Met  Delivery was made on time!

22. In Clinical
Terms…
 Clarify Objectives  Diagnose Patient
 Prioritize Objectives  Prioritize Patient Needs
 Identify and Manage Threats  Identify Allergies
 Develop a Plan to Implement the Solution 
Plan of Care
 Execute the Plan  Intervention - Treat Patient
 Manage Issues Closely  Monitor Patient
Outcomes
 Communicate to Stakeholders  Communicate !
! !
 Manage Plan Changes  Evaluate Plan Success
& Modify
 Verify Objectives are Met  Verify Patient is
Responding

23. Ten Reasons Why We Must Teach
Nurses Project Management
 If nurses aren’t prepared to take the lead, then
who will?
 Just as nurses learned in nursing school, if you
can’t measure it and you can’t describe it, how
can you get others to believe it?
 70% of projects fail; the patients are counting
on nurses to lead projects to success.
 The nursing process (Assess, Diagnose, Plan,
Implement, Evaluate) has made nurses a
project manager all of this time and they didn’t
even know it!
 How many times has a nurse shown up to work
and found a change that they had no input on?

24. Ten Reasons Why We Must Teach
Nurses Project Management
 Learn to talk the talk – project management
language will allow you to speak a language that
crosses all professions.
 Why not give your project a care plan? We use
pathways and care plans for our patients, transfer
these skills to create project success on your unit.
 If nurses are not at the table, then we’ll be on the
menu. Being a knowledgeable stakeholder is vital.
 Resources are limited, this makes communication
and project success vital.
 You manage projects everyday, think of your
workflow and processes you use to deliver patient
care!

25.  FREE companion Web site for Healthcare
Project Management includes
 Over 60 template files
 Links to great videos
 Interactive quizzes, cases, PMP info, etc.
 Secure instructor site (lecture slides, sample
syllabi, test banks, etc.) and desk/review copies
also available
 www.healthcarepm.com

26. Conclusions
 The healthcare industry is behind most other
industries in terms of project, program, and
portfolio management
 There’s a huge need to educate clinical staff in
managing the many healthcare-related projects
 If we don’t improve the way we do business in
healthcare, there will be even more outside
influence on the way we do business
 We can improve healthcare in this country –
one student, one course, and one project at
a time!