A Strategic Plan for a Physiotherapy Information System in a German Medical Center

1. Introduction: In Germany, there is shift towards academization of physiotherapy (PT) in university medical centers (UMC), which strengthens research and education in this field [1]. A university in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, plans to integrate its physiotherapy section with the physiotherapy section of the UMC into an institute for physiotherapy. The aim of this study was to analyze and evaluate their information systems, and to develop a corresponding strategic management plan to improve information logistics.
2. Methods: We described the information systems’ static view by the three-layer-graph-based-metamodel for health information systems (3LGM²) [2] and the dynamic view by Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard [3]. Also, Lean Management-based assessment of “Muda” (waste / unnecessary input) was performed. Source of information were 6 interviews with personnel at the UMC and the university. We then modeled the future state of the static and dynamic view of the institute for physiotherapy. We developed a strategic management plan for it and derived strategic priorities from the university hospital’s mission statement. We transformed strategic priorities into projects of tactical information management [4].
3. Results: The information systems of both organizations consist of several application systems, with several databases, distributed by several vendors. The processes were working but suffered from extensive use of spreadsheets (timetable and internship planning) and low flexibility (medical documentation). The target state of an institute for physiotherapy has been outlined and integrated core-processes of medical documentation of PT, planning PT-timetables and planning of PT-student internships have been described.
A strategic management plan for developing the institute’s information system has been proposed, derived from the business goals of the UMC, such as efficient supporting processes, value-based education and high interconnection of clinical, research and teaching missions. A migration path has been established with 23 prioritized tactical projects over the next 3 years to accomplish to attain strategic management goals (e.g. establishing a central knowledge base in the form of a wiki or introduction of a software for planning courses and clinical internships). Most important aspects of the strategic management plan relate to increasing work efficiency by establishing data integration in and using specific software for planning teaching as well as clinical internships and research data management.
4. Discussion: To our knowledge, this is the first study of describing, evaluating and planning of information systems in physiotherapy research, education and clinical care. Although the information system of a physiotherapy department is of relatively low complexity, it may be worthwhile to have it planned, managed and surveyed with established methods. The methods we used were suitable for reaching this study’s aims.
5. Conclusion: Given that information systems in physiotherapy are an under-researched topic in health informatics, the work represents a first step towards a functional reference model for physiotherapy, encompassing care, research and teaching functions and entity types.