Tips on Buying a New Hospital Intranet
So, you are ready to purchase a new intranet for your organization and are excited to boost productivity by leaps and bounds. That’s a good start. You’ll need to be sure that you are prepared once you have the software at your fingertips. As a technical trainer for HospitalPORTAL, I work with hospitals from the very early stages of the intranet implementation process. Because of this I have developed a sense of what can make the transition to a new hospital intranet as smooth as possible.
The first recommendation to prepare for a new hospital intranet is to identify who the key players are going to be. It is best to have one or two people take ownership of the intranet and the implementation process. In other words, you should pick a point person that will make sure steps are completed on time. Our most successful clients have one or two people that will work with the other super-users to make sure the intranet is a cohesive place that staff can easily find the information that is most important to them.
After you have identified the point person or persons, then find out who will be adding content to the intranet. Initially start with crucial department administrators that you will want to be on the intranet from the start (HR, Nursing, and the homepage are usually good starting points). Remember, building an intranet, especially if it’s your hospital’s first, can be a large project. It’s good to start off small and add more content as you go on. Once you have selected the initial super-users, have them view different intranets so they can get an idea of what content they will want to prepare for the new intranet.
Last, you will want to decide on the content you want to put on the intranet. After the seeing other intranets, you should have a better idea of what can be hosted on the intranet. Often times, the intranet is used to house policies and procedures. It is a good idea to make sure you have these documents in electronic form and organized so you can make the transition seamless. This can be a long process, especially if your policies are still in paper manuals or on numerous shared and local drives spread around the hospital. Having the policies ready to go will help make your transition to a new intranet less stressful and faster.
Make sure you keep these tips in mind when starting your search for the right intranet. Here at HopsitalPORTAL, we offer excellent hands-on training and implementation services, but preparation by the hospital project team is still key. Follow these steps and you should be in great shape for a new hospital intranet.
