Assessment/ Implementation Plan Assignment for The OLINDA/EXM personal computer.
Prepare an implementation plan for use of this device or system in a patient care setting.
Your plan should include the following components:
Description of the Setting and Who will use the device or system
Description of the patient/client population to be served
Timeline for implementing the system
Plan for staff training-include time required, content outline for training and identification
of who should conduct the training
Plan for evaluation of the effectiveness of the device or system
Possible disruption or impact of implementation on usual work of the patient care setting
Purpose: The purpose of the implementation assignment is for the student to apply their
knowledge of how a new device or technological system can be used to improve the quality
and safety of patient care. The real world application provides a unique learning
experience for the graduate student.
Parameters: The implementation plan can be presented in a table or in a narrative format.
All required items should be included. Any references should be cited in APA format.
Include a title page and a reference page with the assignment.
Electronic Medical Records
Assessment/Implementation Plan Assignment for the OLINDA/EXM personal computer
OLINDA/EXM stands for Organ Level Internal Dose Assessment/Exponential Modeling
and is used in calculating radiation doses to dissimilar body organs from systemically
administered radiopharmaceuticals. It executes regression analysis on user-supplied biokinetic
data in order to support such calculations. The OLINDA/EXM version 1.0 personal computer
code was developed in order to replace the extensively used MIRDOSE3.1 code (Stabin, Sparks
& Crowe, 2005). The purpose of this paper is to prepare an implementation plan for use of this
device/system in a patient care setting.
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The system commonly runs on Windows-XP or Windows-2000 based personal
computers, with at least 256 MB RAM and 100 MB free space on the hard disk. When obtaining
the software, a comprehensive instruction manual which includes implementation tests is
supplied to the users by the vendors. The implementation tests typically illustrate a sequence of
sample problems which could be run to make sure that the software is installed correctly and in
an approved manner. Apart from the comprehensive instruction manual that is provided together
with the code/software, some on-screen help is also supplied. Moreover, active support regarding
the use of the software is also provided through fax, email, phone or regular mail (Stabin, Sparks
& Crowe, 2005).
Description of the setting and those who will use the device or system
The OLINDA/EXM software application is planned to be deployed to an oncology or
cancer clinic and those who will use it are nuclear medicine physicians or medical professionals
within the radiopharmaceutical industry. OLINDA/EXM code will be used in performing dose
calculations as well as kinetic modeling for radiopharmaceuticals (Khalil, 2011). OLINDA will
calculate radiation doses to dissimilar body organs from radiopharmaceuticals that have been
administered systemically, and will perform regression analysis on the user supplied biokinetic
data in order to support such calculations for nuclear medicine drugs. According to the Center for
Technology Transfer and Commercialization (CTTC), these calculations will be used by the
nuclear medicine physicians in performing risk/benefit assessments of the use of such
pharmaceuticals in therapeutic and diagnostic applications in nuclear medicine (2012).
OLINDA will be used to perform internal dose calculations chiefly for
radiopharmaceuticals, with the use of RADAR technique of dose calculations as well as RADAR
ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS 3
dose factors, while the EXM module will be used to fit kinetic data to the sums of exponential
functions (Khalil, 2011). RADAR simply refers to the RAdiation Dose Assessment Resource – a
working group which maintains resources for external and internal dose calculations. OLINDA
executes the dose factors from the website of RADAR in a code which allows users to input
kinetic data for radiopharmaceuticals (CTTC, 2012).
Description of the patient/client population to be served
Patients to be served include those suffering from cancer such as prostate cancer and
thyroid cancer, and the OLINDA/EXM personal computer code will be used to perform dose
calculations and kinetic modeling for radiopharmaceuticals (Khalil, 2011).
Timeline for implementing the system
Stabin, Sparks and Crowe (2005) pointed out that implementation of the system in
clinical practice is a linear process with a clearly defined starting point, goals as well as readily
identifiable phases. Successfully implementing OLINDA/EXM personal computer will involve
more than just selecting the appropriate vendor and signing the contract. The process of
implementing the system will start with specifically defined goals and a project implementation
team identified. The implementation plan will address everything including workflow, software
and hardware selection, installation to user/staff training. Here is the process the clinic will go
through as they adopt the new system.
March 2013: Defining goals and identifying the project implementation team
April 2013: Begin evaluating the different versions of OLINDA/EXM personal
computers
ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS 4
May 2013: Choose the relevant OLINDA/EXM personal computer software and acquire
the appropriate hardware
June 2013: Sign contract with OLINDA/EXM personal computer vendor
August 2013: Conduct initial basic skills assessment staff training
October 2013: Install the system to the clinic for use by nuclear medicine physicians and
conduct application-specific staff training.
Plan for staff training-include time required, content outline for training and identification of
who should conduct the training
The staff training will involve two stages – initial basic skills assessment and the
application-specific training – and they will be performed for two months and one week
respectively before starting to use the system. The initial basic skills assessment training will last
for one week and the content outline will be the basics/fundamentals or overview of
OLINDA/EXM personal computer. This initial training will not cover the details of the software.
The second staff training will also last one week and its content will cover OLINDA/EXM
personal computer in detail including how to use it effectively. Questions from the trainees will
be answered adequately to ensure they have proper understanding of the software. The training
will be carried out by personnel from the vendor who has adequate knowledge of
OLINDA/EXM personal computer. Moreover, the vendor’s trainer will stay on site during
installation and two weeks after installation in order to answer questions and deal with problems
that may arise.
Plan for evaluation of the effectiveness of the device or system
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System evaluation plan will involve the following essential steps; the first one is
determining whether the system meets its intended goal from the viewpoint of the user who will
interact with the system on a regular basis. In this step, the system will be compared to the goals
identified prior to implementing the system in order to determine whether the intended goals
have been attained. The second step involves evaluating the ease of use and user satisfaction. In
general, the system should be easy for the users to use. Third step will be about economic
effectiveness, and this will require identifying the costs and benefits of the system and properly
evaluating them. Benefits derived from the system will be expected to outweigh the overall costs
of acquisition and implementation (Khalil, 2011).
Possible disruption or impact of implementation on usual work of the patient care setting
There will be a possible disruption or impact of system implementation with regard to the
usual work of the patient care setting. This will arise largely because of the physician meetings
that will be called to address any issues or problems regarding the system. Moreover, they will
also continue to meet occasionally to discuss OLINDA/EXM personal computer issues and
problems. As such, these meetings will likely have an impact on the usual work of the patient
care setting.
Conclusion
The wide testing of OLINDA/EXM software program, which was based on comparison
with literature-established dose calculations and with the extensively tested and accepted
MIRDOSE3.1 code ought to give users confidence with regard to its output. With an effective
plan, OLINDA/EXM software should be particularly easy for MIRDOSE users to accept and for
new users to understand and adopt. It would be helpful in automating and standardizing internal
ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS 6
dose calculations, evaluating doses in clinical trials with radiopharmaceuticals, teaching,
performing theoretic calculations for the existing pharmaceuticals, and other purposes.
Implementing the OLINDA/EXM personal computer in clinical practice is a daunting task
requiring good planning, effective leadership and supportive employees. The most immediate
benefit of the software will be its use in calculating radiation doses to dissimilar body organs
from systemically administered radiopharmaceuticals.
Reference
Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization. (2012). OLINDA/EXM Radiation Dose
Assessment Software Application (FDA Approved). Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University.
Khalil, M. (2011). Basic Sciences of Nuclear Medicine. San Francisco, CA: Springer
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Stabin, M., Sparks, R., & Crowe, E. (2005). OLINDA/EXM: The Second-generation Personal
Computer for Internal Dose Assessment in Nuclear Medicine.