Dedicated Project Management Research Articles

Integrating automated dispensing cabinets into the medication dispensing process: feedback from the practice in European hospitals

ObjectivesAutomated dispensing cabinets (ADCs) offer improved medication safety, greater efficiency and return on investment. However, integrating ADCs into medication dispensing processes can be challenging in complex hospital environments. This study...

How important is integration to the successful ‘roll out’ of specialist hospital discharge schemes for people who are homeless?

In 2021, we published research funded by the UK National Institute for Health Research that demonstrated the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of specialist hospital discharge schemes for people who are homeless. A key finding of the research was that areas that had a specialist homeless hospital discharge scheme had fewer delayed discharges and could reduce their emergency readmissions among homeless patients by 14%. This positive outcome attracted the attention of national health policy makers who allocated £16 million funding to 17 local authority areas to “roll out” new schemes. This paper reports the preliminary findings of an implementation evaluation. We assess how important integration was in those areas that successfully translated the evidence about “what works’ into practice. This presentation is targeted at academics and commissioners of integrated care.
 The evaluation employed a positive deviance (appreciative enquiry) methodology. This approach seeks out exceptionally performing sites, investigates the underlying factors contributing to the successful behaviours and strategies, and plans an appropriate means to replicate these with the aim to effect a change. The rationale behind appreciative inquiry is that solutions to common problems mostly exist within clinical/practice communities rather than externally with policy makers or managers.
 The first step of the evaluation was to collect audit (performance) data from the 17 local authorities taking part in the programme. Audit data was then used to select three case studies sites that demonstrated high performance against key metrics such as having a shorter length of stay in ‘step-down’ services (longer stays being indicative of housing shortages and difficulties maintaining flow through the system). In the case study sites, reflective interviews and focus groups then sought to establish what factors underpinned this successful implementation. This included interviews with a range of key stakeholders including people with lived experience of homelessness and transitions out-of-hospital (over sixty stakeholders in total).
 Integration was found to be a key factor in understanding successful implementation at many different levels - from building the initial strategic vision to delivering quality in frontline service delivery. Often this was ‘relational’ integration where building social networks in strategic places was the main factor in determining routinization and sustainability. Often boundary spanning was key where ‘homeless commissioners’ needed to cross the divide into the unfamiliar world of health service commissioning. Relational working required a dedicated project manager with highly developed skills in business planning, evaluation and policy literacy to negotiate the many hurdles that stood in the way of the routinization of specialist care. Successful sites also involved people with lived experience of homeless in meaningful rather than tokenistic activities, integrating their knowledge of services and practice to ensure compassion was at the forefront of practice. Taking an in-depth qualitative perspective on successful implementation is important as very few of the 17 test sites managed to sustain their new services once the initial programme funding had run out.

Intermediate String Design Enhances Intelligent Deepwater Completions

_ This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper IPTC 22087, “One Innovative Intelligent Completion Intermediate String Design for Deepwater Gas-Well Completions: The Installation Case Study From L Gas Field, China,” by Shu Jie Liu, Yi Huang, and Wen Bo Meng, CNOOC, et al. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Copyright 2022 International Petroleum Technology Conference. Reproduced by permission. _ An intelligent completion design was installed in two wells in China’s L field deepwater project. Both wells have dual-zone stack-pack sand-control lower completions. To handle critical well-control concerns and enable production from each zone, an intermediate string was installed to isolate the reservoir in each zone temporarily. While the complete paper details both the completion string design and its field installation, this synopsis concentrates on the former aspect of the project. This practice will benefit upcoming deepwater well-completion designs, especially for high-pressure/high-temperature gas-field-development projects. Introduction The L field is a deepwater gas field in the Qiong Dongnan Basin with a water depth from 1200 to 1500 m in the South China Sea. The field was discovered in 2014; development launched in early 2018 with a plan for 11 development wells. The target zone of this field is over 3000 m true vertical depth with a widely distributed thin layer of sand deposition. The target zone has a normal pressure gradient of 1.2 and temperature that reaches 93°C. The 11 wells planned included six horizontal and five deviated wells. The openhole drilling of the first well began in April 2020, and the cased-hole intelligent completion of the last well was finished in March 2021. The openhole gravel packs in the first three wells were completed as the first batch. One cased-hole single-zone gravel pack was completed as the fourth well because it sat on the same flank of the reservoir as the first batch of three openhole wells. After that, a floating rig was mobilized on the other flank to complete the remaining three openhole wells. Then, the remaining two cased-hole single-zone gravel-pack completions followed. The most challenging completion, a dual-zone stack-pack intelligent completion, was performed in the last two wells in February and March 2021. A dedicated project manager and team were assigned throughout project execution. The project-management team strictly adhered to the operator’s completion project-management system; managed the interfaces, risks, and schedules through a scientific approach; and provided technical and troubleshooting support in a timely manner. All 11 wells were completed by April 2021, including the two intelligent well completions. The entire field was brought into production by mid-2021. Well-Completion Design Challenges Because of the unconsolidated sandstone present in the field, all 11 wells required a proper sand-control lower completion to eliminate the issue of sand production. However, the geologic conditions of widely distributed sand deposition and a thinly layered gas reservoir required the operator to use three different types of lower completion methods in one project: the openhole gravel-pack method for six horizontal wells to develop small and thin sand deposits, the single-zone cased-hole gravel-pack method for a sand-control completion in the three deviated wells, and the dual-zone stack-pack method for two intelligent completion wells for a dual-zone sand-control lower completion.

Challenges of Integrating APOL1 Genetic Test Results into the Electronic Health Record.

Integrating genetic test results into the electronic health record (EHR) is essential for integrating genetic testing into clinical practice. This article describes the organizational challenges of integrating discrete apolipoprotein L1 (APOL1) genetic test results into the EHR for a research study on culturally sensitive genetic counseling for living kidney donors. We convened a multidisciplinary team across three institutions (Northwestern University, Northwestern Memorial HealthCare [NMHC], and OHSU Knight Diagnostic Laboratories [KDL]), including researchers, physicians, clinical information technology, and project management. Through a series of meetings over a year between the team and the genetic testing laboratory, we explored and adjusted our EHR integration plan based on regulatory and budgetary constraints. Our original proposal was to transmit results from KDL to NMHC as structured data sent via Health Level Seven (HL7) v2 message. This was ultimately deemed infeasible given the time and resources required to establish the interface, and the low number of samples to be processed for the study (n = 316). We next explored the use of Epic's Care Everywhere interoperability platform, but learned it was not possible as a laboratory test ordered for a research study; even though our intent was to study the APOL1 genetic test result's clinical use and impact, test results were still considered "research results." Faced with two remaining options-downloading a PDF from the KDL laboratory portal or scanning a faxed result from KDL-only a PDF of the APOL1 test result could be integrated into the EHR, reinforcing the status quo. Even with early and ongoing stakeholder engagement, dedicated project management, and funding, unanticipated implementation challenges-especially for research projects-can result in drastic design tradeoffs.

Assumptions of the concept of a phase model of an infrastructural project implemented on this basis of Yellow FIDIC conditions of contract

Purpose: The aim of the article is to develop theoretical and practical assumptions of the phase model concept for infrastructural projects implemented from the perspective of design offices on the FIDIC rules. Design/methodology/approach: In the article, the author develops and presents the assumptions of the phase model concept based on the available literature in the field of project management and the assumptions of the FIDIC Contact Conditions. The research problem is as follows: What elements does the course of an infrastructural project based on the assumptions of the Yellow FIDIC Conditions of Contract consist of? In the article, the author deepens the analysis of the research problem by pointing out specific questions. In her research, the author will use the method of modeling business processes, which allows for a detailed analysis of the studied phenomenon. Findings: As a result of the conducted research, the author developed a concept of a phased model for infrastructural projects implemented from the perspective of the design office on the basis of the Yellow FIDIC Conditions of Contract. The presented concept integrates the project phase model typical for project management with the Yellow FIDIC Conditions of Contract model. Research limitations/implications: The issues discussed in the literature require further development in the form of qualitative and model research. In the literature on the subject, the author identified insufficient knowledge resources in the field of integration of the project management phase model with the Yellow FIDIC Conditions of Contract model. Practical implications: The conducted research will be an added value for the company, as it will help to systematize project management in a design and engineering company. They can be used as a starting point for developing a dedicated project management model in the researched industry. Originality/value: The innovation in the conducted research is the integration of the project management phase model with the FIDIC Conditions of Contract model. Keywords: project management, project phase model, infrastructure project, design office, FIDIC Conditions of Contract. Category of the paper: Research paper.

Integrating Open Innovation into Customer Projects as a Strategy for SMEs

This paper studies how two high-tech SMEs exploit their cooperation with large corporate clients to develop and successfully implement their Open Innovation (OI) process (Chesbrough 2003; Brunswicker & Vanhaverbeke, 2015). Based on a case of radical innovation in the software industry, it highlights the original embedded OI strategy carried out by these SMEs) to compensate for their lack of resources (Dahlander & Gann, 2010) and to limit their innovation risks (Wynarczyk et al., 2013). Based on the analysis of an OI project involving two SMEs and a large company, our work suggests two main contributions to the literature on the implementation of OI in SMEs (Usman et al., 2018). Our first contribution highlights the original strategy of the SMEs to embed their OI project in client projects. The objective is then to exploit the capabilities of large companies (Tobiassen & Pettersen, 2018) and minimize their innovation risk while maintaining their autonomy. Our second contribution concerns the client capabilities which are materialized in their double role: a role of project director (Usman et al., 2017) and a role of collective exploration architect. These contributions suggest a new model for open innovation in SMEs where the large company client is neither positioned as an intermediary nor as an actor in the OI project. This model adapted to the exploration phase of innovation process could serve as a basis for other research work involving high-tech SMEs and large companies (Radziwon & Bogers, 2019) that are their clients, in order to enrich it and validate its relevance, particularly in other sectors. Our work suggests several managerial implications for SMEs wishing to exploit the skills of large groups to carry out their Open Innovation project. In the implementation of their embedded Open Innovation strategy, SMEs managers must select the client with which to cooperate by qualifying their capabilities (budget, availability and skills) and their experience in managing complex projects. They must also ensure that they maintain their autonomy from large companies by retaining leadership of their project (dedicated project manager and team) and their ability to exploit their innovation on their own.

Frame of reference training for content analysis with structured teams (FORT-CAST): A framework for content analysis of open-ended survey questions using multidisciplinary coders.

In the context of a global pandemic, the need for reliable analysis of qualitative data in healthcare has never been more pressing. Open-ended questions are a feasible way for both researchers and organizational stakeholders to gain deeper insight into complex situations when timely research is needed. However, the interpretation of brief, textual responses can prove problematic. Both manual and automated/semiautomated methods of coding qualitative data have been associated with errors and costly temporal delays. Data obtained from the qualitative analysis of open-ended questions have been questioned for lacking robust insights. The present article introduces an innovative, manual, team-based method of analyzing responses to open-ended survey questions. This method was developed and implemented at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic to understand the needs of nurses and their perceptions of organizational strategies that were implemented to address pandemic-related challenges. This framework utilizes a dedicated project management structure, general purpose software for data collectionand analysis, frame-of-reference training designed for an interdisciplinary team of coders, and data analysis procedures that align with qualitative content analysis procedures. In concert, these techniques empower researchd team members with varying backgrounds and disparate levels of experience to provide unique human insights to data analysis procedures, refine the coding process, and support the abstraction of meaningful themes that were used to prioritize organizational strategies and further support nurses as the pandemic progressed.

Optimizing biomedical discoveries as an engine of culture change in an academic medical center.

Academic discovery in biomedicine is a growing enterprise with tens of billions of dollars in research funding available to universities and hospitals. Protecting and optimizing the resultant intellectual property is required in order for the discoveries to have an impact on society. To achieve that, institutions must create a multidisciplinary, collaborative system of review and support, and utilize connections to industry partners. In this study, we outline the efforts of Case Western Reserve University, coordinated through its Clinical and Translational Science Collaborative (CTSC), to promote entrepreneurial culture, and achieve goals of product development and startup formation for biomedical and population health discoveries arising from the academic ecosystem in Cleveland. The CTSC Office of Translation and Innovation, with the university's Technology Transfer Office (TTO), helps identify and derisk promising IP while building interdisciplinary project teams to optimize the assets through key preclinical derisking steps. The benefits of coordinating funding across multiple programs, assuring dedicated project management to oversee optimizing the IP, and ensuring training to help improve proposals and encourage an entrepreneurial culture, are discussed in the context of a case study of therapeutic assets, the Council to Advance Human Health. This case study highlights best practices in academic innovation.

Using AI To Increase Project Management Maturity

Abstract Every company has goals. Part of running a business is knowing how to reach those goals in an effcient way, writes Lloyd Skinner, Chief Executive Offcer at Greyfly. Having dedicated project management in place isn't enough — it needs maturity.

A team science approach to discover novel targets for infantile spasms (IS).

Infantile spasms (IS) is a devastating epilepsy syndrome that typically begins in the first year of life. Symptoms consist of stereotypical spasms, developmental delay, and electroencephalogram (EEG) that may demonstrate Hypsarhythmia. Current therapeutic approaches are not always effective, and there is no reliable way to predict which patient will respond to therapy. Given this disorder's complexity and the potential impact of a disease‐modifying approach, Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy (CURE) employed a “team science” approach to advance the understanding of IS pathology and explore therapeutic modalities that might lead to the development of new ways to potentially prevent spasms and Hypsarhythmia. This approach was a first‐of‐its‐kind collaborative initiative in epilepsy. The IS initiative funded 8 investigative teams over the course of 1‐3 years. Projects included the following: discovery on the basic biology of IS, discovery of novel therapeutic targets, cross‐validation of targets, discovery of biomarkers, and prognosis and treatment of IS. The combined efforts of a strong investigative team led to numerous advances in understanding the neural pathways underlying IS, testing of small molecules in preclinical models of IS and generated preliminary data on potential biomarkers. Thus far, the initiative has resulted in over 19 publications and subsequent funding for several investigators. Investigators reported that the IS initiative generally affected their research positively due to its collaborative and iterative nature. It also provided a unique opportunity to mentor junior investigators with an interest in translational research. Learnings included the need for a dedicated project manager and more transparent and real‐time communication with investigators. The CURE IS initiative represents a unique approach to fund scientific discoveries on epilepsy. It brought together an interdisciplinary group of investigators—who otherwise would not have collaborated—to find transformative therapies for IS. Learnings from this initiative are being utilized for subsequent initiatives at CURE.

Classification of project management tool reviews using machine learning-based sentiment analysis

Managing the daily responsibilities in an organization is a great task for company administrators. Employing a dedicated project management tool is a great aid in all the phases of project management. With a variety of project management tools available in the market, it is a demanding task to look for a tool appropriate to the needs of the organization. It is an observation by scholars and suggests project management tool users tend to read first the reviews and comments of the product before deciding on the tool they are going to implement. This study facilitates sentiment analysis which can help identify effective and efficient project management tool. Microsoft Office Project is one of the most popular and most reviewed tools for more efficient project and portfolio management. The researchers manually extracted data from various websites containing comments and reviews from different users or reviewers. Machine learning-based-approach using RapidMiner was utilized to analyze the collected data from the web reviews. Sentiment analysis from MS Project reviews was applied using supervised learning K-nearest neighbor (KNN). The first level of classification involved classifying statements as “satisfied” and “dissatisfied.” The second level of classification involved clustering sentiments as cost, experience, task, support and interface. Statements classified as satisfied is greater than dissatisfied. The best features to apply when classifying the PM tool reviews dataset are using stopwords, length, stemming and trigram.

Fast Track to Accreditation: An Implementation Review of College of American Pathologists and International Organization for Standardization 15189 Accreditation.

- This review examines challenges and opportunities in preparing laboratories in a startup phase for accreditation by both the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 15189 in an international setting as it relates to our experience at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi Laboratory. It also discusses some of the strategies used in executing those projects and the added advantages in pursuing both types of accreditations. - To share our experience with CAP and ISO 15189 accreditations in a startup international operation in relation to the challenges encountered and implementation strategy success factors. - MEDLINE (PubMed) database was used to review this topic as well as peer-reviewed articles and World Health Organization publications on the topic. - Accreditation is a perfect means toward building quality medical laboratories in a diverse workforce environment and improving patient safety. Further, it establishes a strong foundation on which any new operation can build a sustainable quality improvement culture. Accreditations by CAP and/or ISO are among the most reputable and well-established accreditation systems that clinical laboratories could aim for. As a result of both accreditations offering synergistic and complementing features, we recommend that any laboratory seeking excellence in quality and performance should consider exploring both. Key elements to success include having dedicated project management and change management support while preparing for accreditation. Laboratories seeking accreditation in early operational stages may face a number of challenges; however, significant opportunities will also be present to optimize various operational components from the beginning.

Implementing self-administration of insulin in hospital: a journey of discovery and innovation. Part 2: Implementing change

Offering patients the choice to manage their diabetes in hospital and supporting them to do so is best practice but is not routine. Hospital processes around storage and concerns about insulin misuse coupled with custom and practice have led to increasing numbers of delayed and missed doses. Audits demonstrated the case for change and highlighted that patients were self-administering without proper processes and support. This paper describes a guide developed to help trusts through the change process required to implement patient self-administration of insulin and the experience of doing so in one trust. Dedicated project management and trust-wide involvement are key to success, and innovations to embed self-administration of insulin included electronic documentation of risk assessment, patient assessment by pharmacy technicians and simple bedside storage.

Switching from a semi-computerized to an online employment application system: A case study

ABSTRACTThis case explores the switch from semi-computerized to an online employment application system. This case documents the struggles experienced with user expectations related to requirements and how customization of a third-party product derailed the project’s success. The project was eventually implemented, but not without a significant development effort to customize. The end project was over budget, over time, and did not have all of the functionality that the users were expecting. Key factors leading to the project failure were: lack of user involvement and participation throughout the project including documentation of requirements for the target system, lack of a dedicated project manager, resistance to the change, poor communication, inadequate requirements, and issues with the chosen software development methodology.

Regeneration of a Mixed Use Area in the Historic Core of a City—A Case study of ‘Chala’ in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

The process of urban regeneration is a comprehensive approach, which seeks to bring about enduring and sustainable improvement in the economic, physical, social and environmental conditions of an area that has been subjected to deterioration. It needs a thorough understanding of the dynamics of change in the area. The present article intends to explore the strengths and potentials of the study area and its surroundings, and thereby devise policy guidelines to eradicate the deficiencies. Indian cities are multicultural and vibrant and each city presents a unique situation that needs to be assessed in its own historical and cultural context. For instance, in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala, festivals, arts and crafts play an integral role. The Thiruvananthapuram historic fort with the magnificent temple and palace complexes, and its adjacent commercial zone of Chala, continues to be the hub of the city. Despite its central location, pedestrian scale and an active community of artisans, the living/working conditions of Chala have worsened over the past few decades. This technical article takes a holistic approach towards the regeneration of Chala, thereby providing a sound framework for collateral investment and user participation. The proposals are based on a careful assessment of available opportunities, compatible programmes and possibilities for joint mobilization of various stakeholders and public– private partnership. With a dedicated project management structure along with community participation and coordination, such proposals, if implemented, will hopefully ensure sustainable regeneration of the area.

A Plan for Academic Biobank Solvency-Leveraging Resources and Applying Business Processes to Improve Sustainability.

Researcher-initiated biobanks based at academic institutions contribute valuable biomarker and translational research advances to medicine. With many legacy banks once supported by federal funding, reductions in fiscal support threaten the future of existing and new biobanks. When the Brain Bank at Duke University's Bryan Alzheimer's Disease Center (ADRC) faced a funding crisis, a collaborative, multidisciplinary team embarked on a 2-year biobank sustainability project utilizing a comprehensive business strategy, dedicated project management, and a systems approach involving many Duke University entities. By synthesizing and applying existing knowledge, Duke Translational Medicine Institute created and launched a business model that can be adjusted and applied to legacy and start-up academic biobanks. This model provides a path to identify new funding mechanisms, while also emphasizing improved communication, business development, and a focus on collaborating with industry to improve access to biospecimens. Benchmarks for short-term Brain Bank stabilization have been successfully attained, and the evaluation of long-term sustainability metrics is ongoing.

Identification of variables that impact project success in Brazilian companies

This research aims to analyze the relation between project management maturity and the project success. Moreover, the moderating effect of top management support and the assignment of a dedicated project manager were analyzed. The methodological research approach was a survey of 336 professionals in the field of project management conducted in Brazilian organizations. The results show that project management maturity is significantly related to all vertices of the iron triangle (time, cost and technical performance) dimensions of success. However, it is not related to the customer satisfaction dimension. The two moderate variables, top management support and dedicated project manager, have significant impact on the time success dimension but not on customer satisfaction. It suggests focus on efficiency aspects rather than effectiveness aspects.

TRANSFORMING END OF LIFE CARE IN ACUTE HOSPITALS – HOW TO SET UP A TRUST WIDE PROJECT WITH BOARD LEVEL SUPPORT

BackgroundThe Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT) is a flagship Trust for the NHSIQ ‘Transforming End of Life Care (EoLC) in Acute Hospitals programme’ .Previous EoLC initiatives had been led...

Transforming a Family Medicine Center and Residency Program Into a Federally Qualified Health Center

The authors describe a family medicine center before and after a merger between the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, the California Hospital Medical Center, and the Eisner Pediatric and Family Medical Center in 2012. The merger provided new opportunities to stabilize the financial base of a clinical practice struggling financially and to enhance the training of residents and other health professionals in primary care, which motivated the partners to consider this new model. After 18 months of negotiations, they were able to convert the family medicine center and residency program into a new federally qualified health center. The benefits to this new model include an increase in both patient volume and the quality of education, supporting residency accreditation; a greater number of residents from U.S. medical schools; enhanced education and preparation of primary care physicians for practice in medically underserved communities; enhanced reimbursements and new opportunities for state, local, and federal grants; and quality improvement and new information technology. The partners overcame academic, administrative, legal, and regulatory obstacles, communication barriers, and differences in culture and expectations to achieve this merger. Keys to their success include the commitment of the leaders at the three institutions to the goals of the merger, a dedicated project manager and consultants, opportunities for new revenue sources and reimbursements, and support from a pioneering charitable foundation. The authors conclude by discussing the implications of using community health centers as the focal point for training primary care clinicians and addressing workforce shortages.

The urban renewal programme as an area-based approach to renew townships: The experience from Khayelitsha's Central Business District, Cape Town

In his state of the nation address in 2001, former President Mbeki announced the launch of the Urban Renewal Programme (URP) as an area-based approach to address poverty and underdevelopment in targeted areas, with specific emphasis on improving joint government planning and implementation. The URP focussed on 8 urban townships in the country as 10-year pilot schemes which would pave the way for a development strategy on urban renewal, to be implemented nationally at the end of the ten-year pilot period. In this paper we review the lessons learnt from the URP in Cape Town's Khayelitsha node, focussing specifically on the development of the Khayelitsha CBD. This paper is based on qualitative evidence obtained from the views and perspectives of a segment of programme stakeholders, supported by insights from a wide range of secondary sources, such as key reports on the URP. Six lessons learnt from the case study are discussed. These include the need for a flexible system of land-use management which can respond to both private and public-sector investment and requirements, careful consideration of the approach to informal trade within and in the vicinity of the development precinct, and the introduction of mechanisms to ensure that the spin-offs from private investment accrue to the benefit of local communities. Important elements determining the success of the project are also highlighted; these include addressing the high expectations of employment and skills development as part of the URP implementation process, and the need for dedicated project management resources and a project ‘champion’, who can engage with a variety of external role players. Finally the paper also reflects on the critical role of public investment and commitment required to leverage private investment and development.