Often health practitioners complain about their Electronic Medical Records software, and how it’s not easy to use or doesn’t seem to integrate well with their current workflow. Additionally, health practices can sometimes struggle with keeping up with current technologies or patient expectations.
When you hear that “agile methodologies” can be applied to different clinical settings, and can provide a flexible and collaborative framework for health organizations, what exactly should an average clinician make of that?
What is agile?
Agile methods originate from the software development industry. Initially, they were introduced with the hopes of resolving a lot of common frustrations that come from traditional software development.
A project is broken down into sprints (short-term development cycles), where the target of the sprint is based on customer input.
Agile methods restructure how teams work together and shifts the focus on delivering working products, rather than generating documentation. This allows teams to quickly collaborate and prototype solutions together.
The main principles of the agile movement are:
- Individuals and interaction over processes and tools
- Producing working products, rather than lots of documentation
- Improved customer collaboration
- Responding to change
Adopting agile methods in Healthcare
There can be a wide number of applications for agile in health organizations from redesigning EMR Software solutions, to improving patient engagement and insights, and even in innovation centers.
The first use of agile methods could be improving Electronic Health Records (EHR) software. The agile methodology allows for a flexible and adaptable way to produce EMR software and lets EMR developers quickly prototype functional software. It would encourage improved communication with healthcare providers and allow EMR vendors to keep up with the latest technologies.
In a world where health mandates and patient expectations are constantly evolving, the agile methodology could give a neat way to constantly improve health IT solutions and produce better EHR and Practice Management software and ultimately improve patient care. The health organization, Iora Health, was able to create its own EHR software solution by implementing the agile methodology.
Another case could be made for healthcare organizations to create more responsive care systems. Teams at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston were able to use Agile to redesign annual wellness checks with great results.
Agile principles can not only be used to improve Health IT software development, but it also facilitates designing, prototyping, and improving care delivery.
Potential drawbacks
Implementing agile methods into healthcare does not come without its own challenges and drawbacks. Such problems could include:
- Cultural changes required to adopt agile: Agile requires collaboration and transparency, but health professionals and hierarchal structures can be resistant to change. Especially if clinicians are already accustomed to traditional processes.
- Dedicated resources: Agile methods need lots of time, personnel, and technology. This may prove troublesome in some health settings where budgets and staff constraints can limit resources.
- The complexity of healthcare: Most modern health practices already operate in complex environments. Coordinating efforts, managing priorities, and effectively communicating across different departments can be challenging. Additionally, maintaining compliance with legal and ethical guidelines is critical.
- Patient engagement: Ironically, while agile could improve patient engagement, involving the patient in the first place can be difficult. The agile process requires a lot of patient feedback and insight, and this may not be entirely practical due to privacy concerns or simply limited patient availability.
Conclusion
The value of having an adaptable and flexible workflow for healthcare organizations may be more apparent today than before, especially after coming out of a pandemic.
The agile movement gives a neat blueprint that can be adapted and tailored to the contexts of clinical settings and health organizations. Though not without obstacles, agile could prove to be valuable in redesigning and innovating modern health care.
