News Archives

[Colloquium] Clinical Workflow Process Evaluation Redesign

February 26, 2015

Colloquium Video:

MOV File

  • Date: Thursday, 2/26/15
  • Time: 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
  • Place: Mechanical Engineering, Room 218

Speaker:
Dr. Rita Snyder, PhD, RN Executive Associate Dean and Professor UNMHSC College of Nursing

Abstract:
Advances in computer simulation technologies provide agent-based simulation (ABS) opportunities to visualize existing health care workflow processes, and assess the potential impact of simulated redesign interventions on these workflow processes. This has significant potential for improving the safety and effectiveness of health care workflow process redesign. The presentation highlights a research program devised by an experienced team of interdisciplinary experts from nursing, health systems/informatics, public health services, biostatistics, engineering, and computer science to develop a comprehensive process redesign methodology and agent-based simulation (ABS) tools that can be used to reduce risks associated with redesign of high-risk health care process, such as the medication administration process. The medication administration process was the initial target of the research team's efforts as medication errors remain a serious health care problem in the United States. Of these errors, approximately 42% are medication administration errors making it an important health care process redesign focus.Comparable to other high-risk health care processes, limited evidence exists about the characteristics of the medication administration workflow process and whether these characteristics generalize across different health care settings. The application of the comprehensive process redesign methodology and ABS tools can provide insight about the variability of health care workflow processes across health care settings, and the feasibility of proposed redesign interventions and their potential consequences prior to actual redesign implementation in clinical settings.

Short Bio:
Dr. Snyder received her PhD from the University of Arizona and completed a three year National Library of Medicine Postdoctoral Fellowship in Health Informatics at the University of Minnesota, School of Medicine. Her research program focuses on evaluation of health information technology (HIT) impact on clinical care processes, safety and patient outcomes. Current research addresses the use of agent-based computer simulation as a risk reduction tool to enhance the safety of clinical process redesign. Dr. Snyder's scholarship has been widely disseminated in diverse national and international refereed journals, such as the Journal for Healthcare Engineering, Journal of Nursing Care Quality, and the International Journal for Quality in Health Care, Outcomes Management for Nursing Practice. Her collaborative work with multi-disciplinary colleagues has also been published in the book Advances in Engineering for Healthcare Safety -- From Surgery Ergonomics to Computational Fluid Dynamics. Dr. Snyder's collaborative scholarship with her multi-disciplinary colleagues has been presented at diverse national and international refereed conferences, such as the 2014 American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Fall Symposium in Washington, DC, the 2014 15th International Workshop on Multi-Agent-Based Simulation in Paris, France, the 2013 14th World Congress in Medical andHealth Informatics (MedInfo) in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the 2013 7th Quantitative Modelling in the Management of Health and Social Care Conference in London, England, UK. Dr. Snyder has extensive teaching experience in health care service and academic settings. She has developed and taught numerous staff development and continuing education programs in service settings for individuals in diverse roles and health care disciplines. In academic settings she has taught interdisciplinary graduate courses in the areas of health care systems, health informatics, and research. She has mentored masters and doctoral students (PhD and DNP) and chaired numerous master's theses and doctoral dissertations and projects. She is a member of various professional associations, such as the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA), and has participated on national-level ad hoc research review groups and special emphasis panels for Federal agencies such as the Agency for Health Care Research & Quality (AHRQ), the National Library of Medicine (NLM), and the National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute (NHLBI). She was a sitting member of AHRQ's Health Care Quality and Effectiveness Research (HCQER) study section from 2006-2010. She reviews manuscripts for numerous journals such as Computers in Nursing, Research in Nursing & Health, and the Journal of Healthcare Engineering. Dr. Snyder has practiced in health care organizations and university settings in clinical, administrative, researcher and faculty roles. In these roles she has lead numerous clinical, administrative, educational, and health informatics projects and initiatives. She continues to provide health informatics consultation to health care organizations and academic settings.