Prosesanalise om die inligtingsvloei van 'n teaterpasiënt in 'n privaat hospitaal in Pretoria te optimaliseer : 'n gevallestudie

Abstract

Mistakes during communication and information transfer are a general occurrence in situations where many people work together, communication patterns are complex and people work under stress. A theatre complex is an example of such a situation. Mistakes in the medical field can cause a patient to die or can be very harmful to the patient. Most medico-legal incidents can be prevented. By reducing information transfer mistakes in the theatre complex, medico-legal incidents can be prevented. Computer based information systems can resolve some of these problems. The reason why they are not yet used, is that the implementation is failing. The users feel that the system does not meet their needs and that the system will not fit into their current working system. The change will be too big. The solution for successfully implementing a computer based information system will be to do a needs assessment. This corresponds with the first step of a software development project. To investigate the flow of information forms a part of the needs assessment. This will give an impression of what the system is supposed to do. It will also ensure that the current system will not change drastically. This research project will investigate the information flow within a theatre complex of a private hospital in Gauteng, South Africa, from a nurse perspective. The units directly involved with the theatre complex will also be included in the investigation, but not as thoroughly. This is a qualitative study design. It is explorative, descriptive and contextual. A case study design will be used within the qualitative design. The nature of the information flow in the theatre complex is explored, described and graphically illustrated by means of a series of diagrams. These diagrams will be given to a software engineer for use during system design. The context of the study is, as mentioned, a theatre complex in a private hospital in Gauteng, South Africa. The unit of analysis of the case study is a patient who was admitted to theatre for an emergency laparotomy. This case was chosen due to the complexity of the information transfer involved. The study was conducted in five consecutive phases. Phase 1 is the selection and description of the case. In Phase 2 a patient file was selected by means of a random sample and the documents were analysed. The product of this analysis was a provisional set of diagrams that represent the information flow that was used in Phase 3 for evaluation by participants in the theatre complex. The participants in Phase 3 was selected purposefully. Data collection involved four questions. The data was analysed by using the six steps of thematic analysis. The product of Phase 3 was used to complete Phase 4. Phase 4 is the graphical representation of the information flow after the participation from members of the multi-disciplinary team. Phase 5 is the integration of all the results and the case study. This integration was done thematically