The Strategic Information Systems (IS) planning for the hospital Emergency Department (ED) is a very significant segment that should be taken into consideration. The aspect of IS planning in ED is a complex phenomenon that requires the active involvement of physicians. The emergency physicians should convince the hospital administration on the essentiality of IS in ED. Due to the national attention on the utilization of IT systems in healthcare, there is a necessity for nurses, hospital administrators, physicians, and IT experts to understand the basics of using the Information Systems in the emergency departments (Leonard, 2016). This discussion is therefore inclined to the analysis and understanding of various steps that are deemed necessary for developing and implementing the information systems for ED. Newcastle Hospital has been taken as the primary case study in this paper.
Steps for initiating a Strategic Planning Process for Improvement of ED IS
There are various developmental steps and plan of actions that will be undertaken so as to ensure the improvement on the use of information systems in the Emergency units. The first step is that of appointing a “clinician champion” for the emergency department so as to enhance the overall performance levels (Adenuga & Kekwaletswe, 2014). Secondly, a multidisciplinary group for ensuring the improvement of information systems will be created. This will be in line with the establishment of an ongoing review process for monitoring the patient-safety issues as regards to the ED information system.

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On the other hand, the management framework will be structured in such a manner that responses to the ED information systems-related concerns will be disseminated on time (Wager, Lee & Glaser, 2015). In addition to this, there will be a clear dissemination of the learned lessons from the performance enhancement efforts. After doing so, another step will be the aspect of distributing the product updates from ED IS vendors to the entire users promptly. The final step will thus encompass the aspect of getting rid of the “learned intermediary” and “hold harmless” clauses from the vendor software contracts to share the responsibility regarding patient safety (Husk & Waxman, 2014).

The most Challenging Factor to overcome so as to improve the state of ED in Newcastle Hospital
To improve the state of Newcastle hospital’s emergency department unit, there is need of overcoming various challenges, with the main one being the aspect of IT system’s functionality. This department’s IT systems seems to be very outdated since it is missing critical elements such as radiology, case management, nursing documentation and order entry, among others (Wager, Lee & Glaser, 2015). Among many other challenges, this will be difficult to solve since it requires a greater sense of expertise, resources, and dedication. In this case, the management will be tasked with the act of subjecting the staff members to rigorous training, while at the same time outsourcing some expertise and IT facilities.

How the new CEO’s good Insights can influence the outcome of any ED IS Strategic Plan
The new CEO identified two main challenges that should be dealt with so as to enhance the implementation and outcome of the ED IS plan. The first challenge is inclined to the aspect of inflexibility and unwillingness to change. On this basis, the CEO’s objective of putting up measures for enhancing greater flexibility and change in the entire hospital will improve the initiation of appropriate information system’s plan. Another significant challenge that a new CEO pinpointed is the aspect of limited data for defining, measuring, and improving the service performance in the emergency department (Husk & Waxman, 2014). Seeking appropriate measures for these challenges will greatly influence the outcome ED IS strategic plan.

The First Steps that should be undertaken if appointed by the CEO to spearhead the ED IS Strategic Plan: A general Plan of Action for the next 3 Months
If appointed by the Hospital’s CEO to spearhead the strategic plan for improvement of the emergency department’s information systems, there are various action plans and steps that will be undertaken. These are the most significant steps responsible for enhancing the usability and functionality of subsequent information system. The most initial step is the aspect of developing adequate Usage Agreement for the physicians and clinicians (Leonard, 2016). This will encompass compliance issues, for instance, inappropriate web surfing, download policy, as well as data confidentiality. The aspect of visiting some platforms believed to be the den of viruses should be prohibited.

Another step will be the aspect of establishing a very comprehensive technological plan. On this basis, emergency department’s operating systems should be reloaded with the contemporary and most effective soft wares and other essential features. The main aim, in this case, is to enhance the usability and functionality of the information systems in the emergency departments. For instance, the hospital should be endowed with interconnected systems such that; a physician, nurse or a clinician is endowed with the capability of viewing what transpires in various rooms from a single segment (Rocha & Freixo, 2015).

On the other hand, the act of contacting the subsequent Internet Service Provider for the sake of investigating the bandwidth enhancement should be done. This is because, the bandwidths tends to ease the aspect of multitasking, while also and reducing the application hang-ups that are posed slow update structure (Rocha & Freixo, 2015). The final step and action plan that should also be accomplished within the first three months is to consult one of the firms providing off-site storage for the hospital’s key databases and documents. This service tends to provide an easy platform for disaster recovery in case of any technical problems. With all these steps and plans expected to be implemented in three months’ time, the ED IS will improve to a greater extent.

    References
  • Adenuga, O. & Kekwaletswe, R. (2014). Health Information Systems Use Model by Physicians in Developing Countries. International Journal Of E-Healthcare Information Systems, 1(2), 18-30. http://dx.doi.org/10.20533/ijehis.2046.3332.2014.0003
  • Husk, G. & Waxman, D. (2014). Using Data from Hospital Information Systems to Improve Emergency Department Care. Academic Emergency Medicine, 11(11), 1237-1244. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1553-2712.2004.tb00710.x
  • Leonard, K. (2016). Information Systems for Healthcare: Why we haven’t had more success. Healthcare Management Forum, 13(3), 45-51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0840-4704(10)60776-4
  • Rocha, Á. & Freixo, J. (2015). Information Architecture for Quality Management Support in Hospitals. Journal Of Medical Systems, 39(10). http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10916-015-0326-z
  • Wager, K.A., Lee, F.W. & Glaser, J.P. (2015). Health Care Information System: A Practical Approach for Heath Care Management. [PowerPoint Presentation]. Health Care Information System Standards (Chap.12), Security of Health Care Information Systems(Chap. 13). University’s Name. Available from: University’s URL [Date Accessed].