ABSTRACT

The medical center had a medical informatics committee (MIC) with a chairperson. However, no physicians were involved in the day-to-day leadership of the project. Governance structure consisted of a chief information officer, with direct reports of a chief nursing informatics officer and a director of medical informatics. The medical center’s vision that a “project physician” could achieve success was shortsighted, in that physician input was required at two key levels: computerized provider order entry (CPOE) system design and build and physician “ambassador” duties. The project physician could not successfully focus on developing leadership relationships, communicating with physicians, and addressing cross-departmental issues without significant hospital support. The MIC, as a leadership bridge for information technology and clinical departments, should have served as another opportunity to identify the developing problems with the project, but that also would have required leadership accountable to the success of the CPOE project.