I am enrolled in a Health Informatics Management degree program in Canada and we have no textbox for our Health Informatics courses (1 & 2). Our teacher has opted to teach us using case studies but there are still some concepts I'm having trouble grasping (me and the class). He explains there are Problems in Health Care (generalities, like Digital Imaging Management) and then there are specific issues such as Clinical, Administrative and Financial issues (shortage of staff would be an administrative one). Then there are specific problems with the case that caused the problem, such as a technical problem that caused the HIS implementation to fail. Each time he tries to explain these I get a bit more confused.

I think the issues such as Clinical, Administrative and Financial (CAF) are more specific examples of the general Problems in Health Care (the reasons why they want to implement a HIS for example) but now he wants the class to come up with new ones. My partner and I have come up with Project Management and Group Dynamics and Organizational issues but without a reference we're shooting in the dark here. Trying to get an explanation from him is more confusing and I've had little success searching online. Are there actual models that relate to what my professor is talking about? Or does anyone understand what he's trying to explain? He says the CAF issues are the reasons why a hospital would decide to implement a HIS so in a case study these occur before one is purchase/produced and implemented but the case study we are doing now is of a Project Leader who comes into her position 12 months after the system has been implemented so no reasons for the decision to implement are given.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for listening.
Dorai