The definition, selection and implementation of a new Clinical Information System to prepare the hospital for the electronic future: an example of project-based education

The software supplier of a large hospital has been taken over. The hospital gets notice that the central hospital information system (HIS) will no longer be maintained, starting next year. This problem, not uncommon in business today, is used as a real-life case in a project-based course for first year students Business Information Technology (BIT).Hospitals are changing, not only in the Netherlands but all over the world. Many hospitals grow by mergers, the patients become more aware and the relations between care providers, insurers and medical professionals become more intense. Therefore we can see a demand pull of information technology in the healthcare organizations. On the other side we notice that information technology is transforming the way healthcare is delivered. Innovations such as computer-based patient records, hospital information systems, decision support tools are beginning to affect the cost, quality, and accessibility of healthcare (US Congress, 1995).The students get all basic material that the hospital had at the start of the project but not more than that. They have to construct the case themselves and make a strategic decision: "do we buy a new system from the same supplier or do we choose something completely new.?" Subsequently they have to dig into the hospital information system. When a new central HIS is to be installed, it is not necessary to replace all of the peripheral systems in the hospital. How should the overall system be decomposed into subsystems, and how should the communication between new and remaining subsystems be organized?After several weeks of intensive labor, at least the students have learned one thing: "the hospital information system does not have to bother with the millennium problem!" But have they learned more? While highlighting how this hospital is getting ready for the next century, we describe the added value of project-based education, in particular for the integration project of Business Information Technology.