Developing a Guideline for IT Outage Management in Hospitals: A Practice-Oriented Approach

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Information Technology Management
• Hospital Administration

Background:

• Hospitals rely heavily on interconnected digital infrastructures for critical clinical and administrative functions.
• Information technology (IT) system outages pose significant risks to patient care delivery and overall business continuity.
• Existing IT outage management frameworks often lack practical implementation guidance for healthcare environments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a practical Minimum Viable Product (MVP) guideline for managing IT system outages in hospitals.
• To address the challenges in implementing existing IT outage management frameworks within hospital settings.
• To provide a structured approach for hospitals to mitigate the impact of IT disruptions.

Main Methods:

• An iterative design process was employed to develop the MVP guideline.
• The guideline is structured around key components of IT outage management.
• The development involved defining phases, processes, governance, and tools for outage response.

Main Results:

• A comprehensive MVP guideline for hospital IT outage management has been developed.
• The guideline is organized into distinct time phases for structured response.
• It includes defined processes, governance structures, and essential tools for effective management.

Conclusions:

• The MVP guideline offers a practical and implementable solution for hospital IT outage management.
• Effective IT outage management is crucial for maintaining patient safety and operational continuity in healthcare.
• This guideline can enhance hospital resilience against digital infrastructure disruptions.