Today an empty field
of 78 hectares in the 3 largest city in Denmark. In seven years a new
University Hospital (Nyt OUH) complete with 714 beds and 52 operation rooms of
various types. A major building and development project regarding clinical
processes, organization, IT and technology is underway. TOGAF, as a framework,
is the driving force of this planning process and will ensure a coherent and up
to date IT architecture when the hospital is finished in 7 years.
The hospital will
collaborate with the University of Southern Denmark in order to bridge the gap
between research and clinical treatment. As part of the major building
project, the Region of Southern Denmark and the project organization will work
on describing, analyzing, acquiring and implementing IT and technological
solutions that will redefine the healthcare delivered, support the clinical
vision and make day to day clinical practice operate in the new building. We
call it “The Digital Hospital”
The digital solutions that are the building blocks of the digital hospital must accommodate the opportunity to support the best possible patient treatment, as well as support new working procedures and processes. To further a desired progression towards New OUH, the visions must necessarily affect the hospital's core business - patient treatment - by making the digital field unique.
When
dealing with IT everybody in the organization have an opinion on how to do it,
how to implement and what to buy. Therefore,
it is easy to miss the strategic and analytical perspective and focus on day to
day deliverables and small adjustments according to the user needs. Not that
they are insignificant – on the contrary, but they are minor adjustments that
will only lead to small changes in the business or processes and probably not
deliver a strategic significant change. IT planning, enterprise architecture etc
will get you there. However, it is more challenging, and some will argue more
time consuming. In a big organization like ours, it is the only way to go.
The Digital
hospital as a concept for Nyt OUH was sketched out 3 years ago. The Digital
concept where more of a method than an actual concept. I decided therefore to write a new one, which
clearly marked the road we are on and point us in the right direction. The
Region have a set of architecture principles and I made sure that our Concept was aligned
with those. You can always argue that a set of IT principles or the Concept is
flawed and is not covering everything. It might be too superficial or to
focused on detail. We will adjust our concept regular and make sure it provides
us with the needed frame and direction for the future.
