There are several challenges to the application of
an agile methodology to healthcare processes. For
example, the ATP represents yet another form for
practitioners to be concerned with. An Agile
Dashboard will have the same issue since there are
several support tools. Hence the adoption of these
artifacts may be an issue due to cognitive overload,
management of information, hosting and other IT
issues. A further issue is on reaching agreement on
KPIs, their meaning and use.
An area of the agile methodology that would
improve collaboration is a common language and
terminology. There are several ways that this could be
achieved. Firstly, placing an emphasis on the
functionality of the patient, rather than the disease,
may be an effective way to enable common ground
through common language use. This would also shift
the emphasis from treatment to management and
creation of healthy living within the context of illness.
Secondly, in order to further create a common
understanding, we believe that an ontology for
collaborative healthcare that consists of actors, their
relationships, how communication occurs, what
information is communicated, and what is done with
this information, be developed.
7 CONCLUSION
In this paper, we have shown how agile methodology
can be applied to manage the treatment of chronic
conditions such as ADHD. Our approach anchors
around the Agile Treatment Plan and the Agile
Dashboard. We have shown how the KPIs that form
these artifacts can be used to quantify healthcare team
collaboration and performance. We also articulated
some areas of improvement that could be evident
should if an agile approach is used. Finally, we
articulated some challenges and the need for an
ontology and common communication based on
functionality, rather than ailment or disease.
In summary, the application of Agile
methodology to healthcare would require
managers/administrators to empower knowledge
workers to find solutions, rather than control the
team. It requires healthcare teams to become self-
organizing, autonomous, and have the ability to
function as a network of teams. Coordination of work
would occur in an iterative manner, free of
bureaucracy, while at the same time being structured.
Practices would be customer-focused, and mission-
critical.
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