Challenges of putting into practice healthcare IT

What is it about?

This paper aims to better understand how and why innovations in information technology (IT) in healthcare occur. It looks in particular at how two IT applications were put into practice over a number of years in 4 different healthcare organisations within the National Health Service and England, and seeks to explain why some applications were implemented more successfully in some places than others. The study draws on data from interviews with 72 managers, clinicians and other professionals, conducted over a two-year period, and combines or 'blends' two different analytical models to understand some of the real-life processes that affect how IT innovations are put into practice.

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Why is it important?

Fully integrating healthcare IT is increasingly seen as a critical level for improving the quality, efficiency and safety of healthcare systems. Most healthcare systems are now committed to the goal of adopting and putting into practice new IT in healthcare settings. But there are often challenges that face the delivery of these new IT systems and applications, especially in large, complex organisations. The financial and other costs associated with underestimating these challenges can be considerable. Hence the importance of learning from those programmes, such as the ones explored in this study, in which certain IT applications appeared more or less difficult or problematic to implement. This study argues that any single-perspective or analytic tool will miss vital clues. 'Blending' different theoretical approaches, including one that is sociological in its approach and which pays attention to ways in which organisational and professional systems work between and across levels, will provide a better analysis of IT in practice. This is turn will lead the more cost-effective implementation of IT innovations in healthcare.

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