​​​Archive: December 13, 2017

Speaker: Svetlena Taneva

Healthcare information technology (IT) procurement is critical for healthcare organizations, as procurement decisions on medical devices and IT infrastructure will impact safety, efficiency, staff and patient experiences – impact that could last decades. Hence, a healthcare organization's purchase decision is not only a major financial investment and long-term commitment, but has significant implications for patient safety, operational efficiency and effectiveness. Purchasing a product that does not support existing care practices or does not easily integrate with existing processes can directly or indirectly contribute to increased need for training, inefficiencies, workarounds, patient safety risk and resistance to adoption.

Objectives

The goal of this presentation is to share insights and experiences on the value of applying comparative high-fidelity usability testing to inform hospital procurement decisions. The presentation will:

• start with an overview of common technology procurement practices in hospitals in Canada
• discuss the value that human factors add to procurement
• present case studies of human factors evaluations integrated into the procurement decision-making
• discuss how human factors input for procurement decisions fits within the new Value-Based Procurement framework that the government of Ontario and other provinces are promoting, as means for procurement innovation