Information Technology Professional Interview
In healthcare organizations, projects are inevitable. This confirms the need for an IT professional who is responsible for developing software and projects within the facility. I previously worked in a healthcare organization, and since projects form part of all organizations, hospitals are not exceptional.
The project development methodology used by the IT professional within that organization is agile methodology. This methodology is the most preferred in a healthcare organization because most of the projects within healthcare facilities are incremental. Agile methodology is mostly used in iterative processes, and since most of the steps used in project development of healthcare organization repeat themselves, this method becomes the best. It is the most preferred because it considers every step of development as a single entity where challenges in each step are handled individually. As with project development, change is inevitable, and the agile method allows one to change a single step rather than the whole project. Agile project development methodology requires a collaboration of teams and customers in the design and development hence it’s the best when an organization desire to meet the demands of individuals as well as the demands of the highly competitive software industry.
A business analyst is required in all organizations due to their role in designing and modifying systems and projects within the organizations. In healthcare, the business analyst is responsible for managing health outcome projects to ensure that all the demands of patients are met within the systems. They also connect patients to hospitals to ensure that healthcare-related expectations and requirements are met. In IT projects, business analyst assesses the business model used in healthcare and how it integrates with the technology used in healthcare. Information in the healthcare industry is the key to quality treatment of patients. The technology should meet the expectation of patients regarding privacy and availability of information. They also provide the analytical expertise required for data quality improvement which is the goal of healthcare information systems. Therefore, business analyst takes the role of evaluating the IT projects to make sure they meet the demands and requirements of patients.
The role of a business analyst has prepared them for challenging projects because they can assess the effectiveness of the models due to analytical skills developed when performing their role. Since business analysts write functional specifications of a project before it is developed, managing challenging projects become easier. They also liaise with a technical team that assists in the development of technical and challenging projects. Thus, the role of business analyst has made them conversant with various types of a project including the challenging projects.
From the interview, the application developer skill sets used by the IT professionals included high-level programming and technical skills. These were relevant in ensuring effective implementation of applications where programming tools languages and development tools were used. Creativity and analytical capabilities were also mentioned as part of skills used by the IT professional. Analytical skills were used in designing and building the application so that it could meet the needs of the end users. Analytical skills are also required in deciding the applicable specifications for an application hence important for an IT professional. The interviewee mentioned a logical approach to problem-solving as part of the skills he poses. Tenacity and patience formed part of the skills used by the IT professional which happen to be skilled for an application developer. The interviewee was attentive to details given and was well adaptive to the new environment. He possessed skills to work under pressure which are essentials of an application developer.
The skill sets used by the IT professional could be used in my career. In the nursing profession, increased workload leads to working under pressure which is a skill used by IT professionals. Patience and logical approach during problem approach are some skills also required in my career. Dealing with patients requires patience so that they help patients overcome anxiety. Empathy towards others develops out of patience which is crucial for all medical professional. As a nurse, being adaptive to a new environment is mandatory since the profession is based on a variety of medical organization. Thus, the skills used by the IT professional are also relevant to my career.
Quality assurance is essential for all projects as it prevents mistakes and defects which can be problematic when providing services to consumers. The process for quality assurance involves several steps which include identification of organizational goals. After the objectives are stated, the critical success factors which make the organization a quality assurance system are identified. Identify the external and internal customers since they are the key to an effective quality assurance system. The other step is a collection of customer feedback since it enables an organization to unearths and detects problems within the organization. Implementation of continuous improvements is the other step in the process since quality assurance is not complete without continuous improvement. The improvement is based on customer feedback. Later, selection of quality management software is conducted, and the results of the software are measured.
The system testing methodology used by the IT professional is incremental integrating testing which since it is the most suitable for agile development methodology. In this methodology, each unit of the system is tested individually before it is integrated with other units to develop a system. After the integration, they are later tested as a group to ensure that the whole system behaves as intended. This methodology is the best as it ensures the entire system meets the demand of the changing technology as well as the demands of patients. The testing is either conducted by the developers themselves of testers using manual or automated tests.
Information technologist is important in the healthcare industry because patient information requires proper management. Selection of a good project development methodology determines the level of security guaranteed by the system especially when used in a healthcare organization. All systems require quality improvement thus; it is important to consider quality assurance process to avoid mistakes and defects likely to occur during project implementation. The testing of the methodology should be compatible with the methodology itself so that effective results are guaranteed.