Head of Health, Tietoevry Care
The challenge
Matching new solutions with end-user needs and reviewing the ensuing operational changes. Maximizing the benefits of the release and ensuring a smooth deployment in the flurry of daily work.
The solution
Supporting deployment with TietoEVRY’s health and social services. Including the end-users in deployment planning from the beginning.
About the customer
Varkaus hospital caters to approximately 40 000 residents in Varkaus, Joroinen and neighbouring municipalities.
The new Varkaus Health Campus will bring health and social services under one roof in 2021. The health and social services centre located in the hospital area will offer services for healthcare and social welfare, inpatient care for specialized healthcare, rehabilitative inpatient care, primary level mental health inpatient care and emergency care.
The new health and social services centre will employ over 300 professionals in health, social and support services.
End-users involved in deployment
Deployment specialist services review new products and possible transformations in customer processes.
Added value with specialist services
On a 5-point rating scale, participants granted 4.4 to usefulness of workshop content, and 4.8 to consideration to end-user’s perspective in preliminary planning (1=very poor, 5= excellent).
Harmonized use of system
Every unit of Varkaus’ health and social care services was involved in the system update, making it possible to review, develop, and harmonize the system on an organizational level.
New system makes new procedures possible
The purpose of deployment specialist services is to match the organization’s day-to-day needs with the new update and, ultimately, create a fluent whole.
Finding the right balance between everyday work and the system’s features is essential for a successful deployment. TietoEVRY’s specialist services make sure that Lifecare’s latest features aren’t just technical issue. In fact, the specialists help end-users to identify how changes affect existing procedures and what kind of new possibilities emerge. Based on these shared conversations, the system can be modified to support daily activities in the best way possible.
To maximize benefits, it is important for the whole organization to use the system in an identical way and, above all, to have the appropriate tools at its disposal. For example, the nationally required patient care plan is easy to use, but the whole organization still needs to have a shared understanding of its use. When entry procedures are harmonized, the data is immediately usable for varied purposes.
“The end-users are actually involved in updating the system. They’re not just along for the ride, but truly get to take part from the very beginning”, Information Systems Specialist Sanna Kaskivirta says.
“The work of each professional is a little bit different with varied needs. The workshops took into account every single position in the organization.”
Sanna Kaskivirta
Information Systems Specialist, The City of Varkaus, Health and Social Services Centre
Day-to-day work is central to the new release
The most essential thing for the TietoEVRY deployment specialist services is to include the end-users in development. The end-users come onboard long before deployment and they know in advance what the future release will include and how it will affect and benefit their work.
In Varkaus, the daily activities and needs were investigated in advance to prepare for the workshops. The participants delved into how Lifecare features answer to their day-to-day challenges and learned about the possibilities of new products.
”TietoEVRY gathered thoughts, ideas and entry forms in two workshops. We reviewed how entries are currently made and how the process could be improved with Lifecare. One of our wishes has been to harmonize entry procedures in the wards. We are now tackling this goal with the entry forms”, Assistant Head Nurse Marjo Ojala explains. The revised entry forms will be introduced in the 2021 release.
”It’s really good that a wide range of participants got to influence and present ideas in the workshop. This way the system reflects the end-users better, compared to if only managers and TietoEVRY specialists had participated.”
Marjo Ojala
Assistant Head Nurse, Internal Diseases and Surgical Inpatient Ward, The City of Varkaus, Health and Social Services Centre
System development is all about the end-users
Approximately 30 professionals – at least one from each care unit at Varkaus – took part in the two workshops organized. Between the workshops, participants independently reviewed new products and the changes the products enable.
In Varkaus the end-users revised, for instance, entry procedures, national measurements and physiological measurement graphics, all of which will be taken into use in the next release. It is essential that the entire staff knows where and how, for example, the national functioning measurements are entered, so that the scores can be viewed graphically. With harmonized procedures, care becomes more impactful and data offers support to management. Also, teamwork helps to harmonize workflows and practices even more.
Working close to the end-users makes it possible for TietoEVRY to take notice of and react agilely to areas that could benefit from product development.
“It’s beneficial to know in advance what’s coming. Some of my ideas couldn’t be implemented, but all ideas were discussed and documented. And who knows, maybe they will eventually seep into the end product and keep us moving forward”, Chief Physician of Appointment Services Jyrki Kyynäräinen says.
“We had very open conversations. I also appreciated hearing when my idea just wasn’t technically feasible.”
Jyrki Kyynäräinen
Chief Physician of Appointment Services, The City of Varkaus, Health and Social Services Centre
Read more about healthcare and welfare solutions and services.
