Case study Application of enhanced Delphi method for software development and evaluation in medical institutes

Abstract

Purpose - In recent years, many development projects of the medical systems encounter difficulties and eventually fail. Failure is often due to very complicated and changeable medical procedures and the inconsistent understanding between system stakeholders, especially the healthcare providers, and information technology staff. Many research results also indicate that poor communication easily results in negative consequences during the implementation of the medical information system. To effectively overcome this obstacle, the purpose of this paper is to propose an enhanced Delphi method to assist in reaching consensus during the software development with some additional steps. Design/methodology/approach - As an alternative to the traditional way to elicit pertinent feedback from respondents, the enhanced Delphi method stresses the systematic, flexible, and cyclic stages to construct a questionnaire with viewpoints from different types of panelists and a self-assessment procedure as a validating step to measure the improvements in the system implementation. Findings - The better communication between the members of project team does increase the comprehensive assessment of a project. Originality/value - Based on a practical case, the enhanced Delphi method really demonstrates good performance and effectiveness.