Project Management for Healthcare Informatics

Nurses are constantly involved with projects; staff nurses develop plans of care, nurse managers determine projected staffing patterns, staff development instructors create courses, informatics nurses implement software applications. The project management process can be utilized to facilitate these and many other nursing projects.

Project Management for Healthcare Informatics will provide an explanation of the project management process tailored for nurses through its use of real clinical examples. In the first chapters, the project management process will be described in detail along with its relationship to the phases of the project life cycle. The tools available to successfully complete each phase of the project management process and move along the project life cycle will be included. The rest of the book will be devoted to discussion on how to apply these principles in the day-to-day work of the nurse―whether manager, staff nurse, educator, researcher, or informatician. Case studies and project examples will comprise the majority of material in these chapters.

Many books on project management exist, ranging from college text books to handbooks for the practicing project manager. No books, however, are specifically focused on project management for nurses. Project Management for Healthcare Informatics will fill this gap. This book will serve as a text for nurses who want to become knowledgeable in project management and/or as a reference to those nurses actually managing real world healthcare projects.

Project Management for Healthcare Informatics provides an explanation of the project management process tailored for nurses through its use of real clinical examples. In the first chapters, the project management process will be described in detail along with its relationship to the phases of the project life cycle. The tools available to successfully complete each phase of the project management process and move along the project life cycle will be included. The rest of the book will be devoted to discussion on how to apply these principles in the day-to-day work of the nurse―whether manager, staff nurse, educator, researcher, or informatician. Case studies and project examples will comprise the majority of material in these chapters.

Susan M. Houston, MBA, RN, BC, PMP, is a project manager in the Department of Clinical Research Informatics at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Lisa Anne Bove, MSN, RN, BC, is a project management consultant with Accenture in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania