Policy, Strategy and Operations —
Training activity: 2

Details

Report on the alignment of an organisation-wide informatics strategy to national policy and strategy, document the findings and make recommendations to resolve any problems identified

Type

Developmental training activity (DTA)

Evidence requirements

Evidence the activity has been undertaken by the trainee​.

Reflection on the activity at one or more time points after the event including learning from the activity and/or areas of the trainees practice for development.

An action plan to implement learning and/or to address skills or knowledge gaps identified.

Considerations

• Political landscape and current/future issues
• Prioritisation of issues in the organisation context

Reflective practice guidance

The guidance below is provided to support reflection at different time points, providing you with questions to aid you to reflect for this training activity. They are provided for guidance and should not be considered as a mandatory checklist. Trainees should not be expected to provide answers to each of the guidance questions listed.

Before action

• What specific criteria will you use to assess alignment? What types of problems might you anticipate finding?
• What insights do you hope to gain about the practical application of national policy at an organisational level in informatics? What do you already know about policy alignment and gap analysis? How do you expect to develop your skills in documenting findings and making constructive recommendations? What do you anticipate learning about the challenges of ensuring strategic alignment in healthcare informatics?
• Discuss this activity with your training officer to understand the expected format and level of detail for your report and recommendations. Familiarise yourself with the national policies and the organisation-wide informatics strategy you will be working with. Consider methodologies for conducting alignment and gap analysis. Think about potential barriers to implementing your recommendations and how you might address these in your report. Reflect on your current skills in report writing and making recommendations and identify areas you want to focus on improving.

In action

• What actions are you taking to assess the alignment? Are you comparing specific sections of the organisational strategy with particular national policies? Why have you chosen this comparison method?
• What decisions are you making about whether specific elements are aligned or misaligned? What criteria are you using to determine alignment?
• Which aspects of identifying alignment feel intuitive based on your understanding of both the organisational and national strategies? Where are you having to make a more deliberate effort to draw connections?
• How effectively are you identifying areas of alignment and misalignment? Are you able to clearly document your findings as you go?
• What challenges are you facing in determining alignment or in formulating recommendations for identified problems?
• What are you learning about the process of alignment analysis and recommendation development as you work on this?
• Are there other ways you could be approaching the alignment analysis or the formulation of recommendations?
• Do you need to seek any guidance on how to best document your findings or frame your recommendations?
• Are you ensuring your report and recommendations are within the expected scope and your level of understanding?

On action

• Summarise the key aspects of the informatics strategy and the national policies you considered for alignment. What were the main findings of your alignment analysis? Where did they align, and where were there discrepancies? What problems did you identify, and what were your key recommendations for resolving them?
• What skills or knowledge did you develop or improve in performing alignment analysis and formulating recommendations? Did you gain a better understanding of the practical challenges in ensuring strategic alignment? Were there any surprises or difficulties in documenting your findings or developing your recommendations? What did you learn from these? How did your approach during the activity (reflection-in-action) shape the focus and content of your report and recommendations? How is the ability to report on strategic alignment and make recommendations relevant to your future professional practice?
• What areas do you need to develop further in terms of strategic analysis, report writing, or problem-solving? How can you apply the experience of identifying and recommending solutions to future challenges in your work? What are your ‘next steps’ to improve your skills in this type of analysis and reporting? What resources or support would be beneficial for your continued development in this area?

Beyond action

• Considering your current knowledge of national and local policy alignment, how would you evaluate the report you created for this training activity? What would you do differently now in terms of identifying misalignments and proposing recommendations? Have you been involved in assessing the alignment of other strategies or projects since this activity? How did this initial alignment exercise inform your later approaches? Did discussing this training activity with your training officer or peers reveal alternative perspectives on alignment or different recommendations you hadn’t considered? Review your reflect-on-action notes for this training activity. How has your understanding of the challenges of aligning local strategy with national policy evolved since then?
• Has your understanding of policy alignment influenced how you approach project planning or the review of organisational documents? How has this reporting exercise contributed to your ability to communicate findings and make recommendations to address identified issues? Did this experience help you appreciate the importance of clear documentation in strategic analysis? Has it influenced how you think about potential barriers to policy implementation and strategic alignment?
• What problem-solving, analytical, and communication skills did you develop through this training activity that will be applicable to future strategic planning or policy roles? What are your next steps in learning more about policy analysis and strategic alignment frameworks? How will the ability to assess and report on strategic alignment contribute to your future ability to ensure effective implementation of health informatics initiatives?

Relevant learning outcomes

#	Outcome
# 1	Outcome Critically appraise organisational informatics strategies in relation to national policy and strategy.
# 2	Outcome Critically evaluate the application of quality control and quality assurance measures within organisational informatics strategies, including how patient care outcomes and patient safety are addressed.
# 3	Outcome Perform and report gap and alignment analysis of projects against local and national strategies including recommendations to resolve issue identified.