ITIL run at Taipei City Hospital

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Taipei City Hospital (TCH) actually is a Union Hospital, this hospital includes ten hospitals is dispersed in Taipei different regional, for this hospital management to be more effective on the service, the teaching and the research quality are better, by the concept of centralized management and decentralized processing, makes the resources most effective. The hospital is one of the possibility place to have each kind of sudden outbreak, moreover it is affect a human life, if the information system cannot respond promptly, creates the risk is nobody may come to undertake. The hospital decided that establishes a set of IT management construction, lets each person's potency enhance largely, establishes a central information centre (more than 30 middle size server and main frame), first is centralized the equipment and personnel, and then reconstruct the entire IT infrastructure.

After central information centre establishment, faces to IT management aspect. Just one question could very possible involve to others simultaneously (more than 4,000 computers in various area). According to the ITIL concept, needs to define the clear the personnel's role, which matter should be done by a person. This idea is the reason of TCH inducts ITIL precisely. This also becomes the key point on TCH information management system rallying. Simultaneously lets the front end and back end person know that which matters each one can handle, how to illustrate their function to deal with the issue, however the confliction can be reduced.

TCH must have a good methodology to handle the 10 hospital's front end service management. This is the reason why TCH inducts ITIL framework, because ITIL includes the Incident Management, Problem Management, Configuration Management and other modules unify the information in CMDB. That may the advantage on discovers the real problem in case. Moreover ITIL concepts can also help people classify and solving the work, person, organization and equipment's matter. Actually some 80% events, the real issues possibly only occupied about 20%. In other words, so long as fixes about 20% real problems, which may solve about 80% problems. If TCH does not have ITIL implementation, it is unable to know that, which the issues do TCH have, where the issues come from? Whichever come from equipment or people?

After inducting ITIL framework, TCH know many matters from the IT management. It comes from the basic service quantity, equipment quantity, equipment's service condition, or personnel administrative condition. Is the operation working smooth or the service quality to be good, those have the objective data to be possible to consider. In term of the front end people, ITIL the most attraction for them, the work flow itself has not changed actually, but lies in the lifting efficiency at the same time.

The goal on Inducts ITIL framework, not only establishes the service desk, the most important things is let the IT department have more value, it represent on the quality, to be possible the quantification, to be possible to manage and working flow standardization. That is helpful to reduce people’s doubts and the complaint regarding to the IT department, and refine the IT department's value as well.

TCH induct ITIL start at June, 2006, establishes the service desk and the Incident management estimated that six months must complete, that is shorter compare to overseas possibly require two year, but the ITIL ten flows are the plan must complete completely in two years. After inducting ITIL, may let the development personnel concentrate on system innovation, develops the new system or provides the new software service, which can affect the medical service quality naturally. For example, after inducts PACS system's in hospital, patient take a testing on X-ray, possibly must wait for 15 minutes doctor to be able to obtain the result, and then continues the diagnosis. Now, the PACS can provide the result to the doctor when the patients possibly return to the consulting room.

ITIL may assist the IT personnel to solve the basic problem, but is not soling on event only. Change the situation from waiting to do not use to waiting, from passive way pass to initiative side that is one kind of significant improvement.

In summary, I know that in the majority cases, it is the intangible efficiency which ITIL framework brings. That represents in work sharing, on time consuming and money. As the last paragraph said that, if we can change the situation at event handling on waiting to do not use to waiting, from passive way to the initiative side on the processing flow, it is a significant improvement. Even it is intangible on the changing. But we can feel it is effective.