Module 15 Assignment Catherine Dossett-Davies 04/10/2012

I selected the Texas Association of Rural Health Clinics (TARHC).In the past year;the department has to create a new Community Rural Health (CRH) Team. The CRH IT team will maintain existing applications and develop new applications specific to the needs of the Community Rural Health Department. My first step will be to create a team with strategic group members, using a PRISM Tools Organizational and Behavioral Questionnaire to determine if team members have the necessary knowledge, skills, problem-solving ability, confidence, and motivation to complete the project. I would then write SMART consistent operational definitions (ground rules) identifying the three elements-Tasks, Process and Norms, that each member of the team agrees to. We shall then identify needs, develop alternatives and create solutions to problems through knowledge of departmental functions, processes and capabilities. Working with other IT Staff (Applications and Data Team &Technology and Infrastructure Team), the team will develop solutions that may involve a combination of software, hardware and procedures. I feel that by working with other IT Staff, my team will learn how to interact with different personalities and will benefit from the experience, therefore helping them to complete their mission.

My next step would be to develop an action plan. I prefer the Work Breakdown Structure action plan. I feel this tool add to the performance of the HIT team and it is best for helping the HIT team complete its mission in a timely manner. I think it will help organize the teams work into manageable sections. The work breakdown structure is a deliverable oriented hierarchical decomposition of the work to be executed by the project team. The work breakdown structure visually defines the scope into manageable chunks that a project team can understand, as each level of the work breakdown structure provides further definition and detail.

To help facilitate communication between team members I would create a GoogleWave account. Google-Wave is part e-mail, part wiki, part instant messaging and part social networking; it offers an unprecedented opportunity to collaborate with peers in real-time, where edits and additions can be seen as theyre made. Replies can be threaded and nested many levels deep, with the entire progress of each Wave able to be played back in sequential order to see how the document unfolded. I would also have the way to bring in and display outside information into a Wave with extensions dubbed gadgets and robots Since anyone can create these extensions, not only is there a robust community already making useful apps, but my team could potentially create its own custom extensions if and when need as well. I feel that with this tool and Skype,

my team would be able to collaborate 24/7 therefore make us a stronger team. I believe that Google-Wave will also help the team complete its mission. I would require that each member of the team have a laptop with an integrated webcam, delegated just for this project. I think that they should all be the same brand. These shall be returned to department head at the end of said project. I would also like them to each have iPads. While I prefer Dell and HP, TOSHIBA has a computer that is designed for the IT business. TOSHIBA has added Intel Active Management Technology. This software gives IT teams direct access to the fleets laptops, wherever the team is so they can be maintained remotely. A Port Replicator is sold separately, which allows the team to dock the laptop and be instantly connected to other devices, such as external screens, back up HDDs and the office network, as well as the power supply. I believe that using this device will help the team evaluate its progress and facilitate information sharing and collaborative efforts as well. With virtualization technology, you can run multiple operating systems and programs on a single laptop simultaneously. This will enable the team to access both systems as needed, rather than alternating between different devices. With the virtualization technology, the team can access and work on different operating systems simultaneously. I believe that the TOSHIBA along with the SWOT Analysis tool will also help the HIT team complete its mission. In my research for this assignment, I learned about Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS) at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK43686/ .While this tool was originally developed for an academically oriented field and converted for the healthcare field, I feel that this tool would definitely enhance my teams performance and interaction. TeamSTEPPS is a systematic approach developed by the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to integrate teamwork into practice. It is designed to improve the quality, safety, and the efficiency of health care. TeamSTEPPS is based on 25 years of research related to teamwork, team training, and culture change. As a direct outcome of the 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, To Err is Human; TeamSTEPPS introduces tools and strategies to improve team

performance in health care. TeamSTEPPS could be modified for HIT as well, since the main focus is team work and patient safety .Quote from their site: TeamSTEPPS instructs team members to monitor the performance of others and provide assistance, plan and organize team roles, and communicate with one another efficiently and effectively. Combined, these skills yield a highly adaptable and flexible team. These are all qualities that Id like in my team. This tool also allows for client feedback. The primary goals of my performance evaluation system would be to provide an equitable measurement of an employees contribution to the team and company, produce accurate appraisal documentation to protect both the team member and company, and obtain a high level of quality and quantity in the work produced. To create a performance evaluation system on my team, I would follow these five steps: 1. Develop an evaluation form. The form that I would use shall focus only on the essential job performance areas. Limiting these areas of focus makes the assessment more meaningful and relevant and allows me and the employee to address the issues that matter most. 2. Identify performance measures. Standard performance measures, which allow me to evaluate a team members job performance objectively, can cut down on the amount of time and stress involved in filling out the evaluation form. Although developing these measures can be one of the more time-consuming parts of creating a performance evaluation system, its also one of the most powerful. 3. Set guidelines for feedback. I would be sure not make the common error of glossing over an employees deficiencies and focusing only on his or her strengths. It is by understanding their weaknesses that team members can take ownership of their performance and role in the practice. And when given the support they need to make improvements in these areas, employees learn to take pride in their work and are willing to take on new challenges with confidence. 4. Create disciplinary and termination procedures.

Id need to be prepared to handle such a situation by having well-defined, written disciplinary and termination procedures in place. These procedures should outline the actions that will be taken when performance deteriorates a verbal warning, a written warning if there is no improvement or a recurrence, and termination if the situation is not ultimately resolved. 5. Set an evaluation schedule. Once Ive built my performance evaluation system the evaluation form, the performance measures, the feedback guidelines and the disciplinary procedures I would just need to decide when to conduct the performance evaluations. When I was in business I scheduled all employee evaluations within 30 days of each employees anniversary of employment. However I decide to schedule the evaluations, Ill ensure that each appraisal consistently meets the deadline. Ignoring employees overdue evaluations would make them feel devalued and may hurt morale.