Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Feb 28, 2024
Date Accepted: Nov 30, 2024
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
A process evaluation of health information technology implementation: Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on clinician-IT dynamics
ABSTRACT
Background:
The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the rapid development and implementation of health information technologies (HITs) to support healthcare delivery. HIT implementation is difficult at the best of times, due to complex socio-technical challenges which vary across contexts and settings, however, it is currently unclear how the pandemic impacted HIT implementation processes.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to explore the impact of the pandemic on HIT implementation processes, including pre and post implementation phases, and identify the socio-technical factors that shaped HIT implementation during an unprecedented circumstance.
Methods:
Participants were from one of two teams: health care staff from a virtual hospital in Australia; and information technology professionals within the broader healthcare organisation assigned to the hospital. Participants were asked to describe the process used for rapid HIT design and implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Results:
Fifteen participants took part in an interview or focus group. Both internal and external team structures, and the communication pathways that underpinned these, were reported to influence the HIT lifecycle, which in turn impacted outcomes, particularly when perceived normal ways of working were challenged during the pandemic. Across the pre-post lifecycle, pre-implementation processes were viewed to be most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants reported that their roles and responsibilities changed during HIT implementations in the pandemic, impacting co-design processes highlighting the need for HIT implementation processes to cater for new work and the re-distribution of existing work.
Conclusions:
Whilst healthcare organisations are keen to transition beyond the ways of working during the pandemic, it is imperative to learn from the HIT implementation successes and failures that occurred in the pandemic via process evaluations. Our evaluation offers learnings for research, practice and education on HIT implementations as the world transitions to the ‘new norm’.
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Copyright
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