Although new technology adoption is widespread and growing, the efficiency of its use is still questionable. Improving the climate for the technology and implementing workplace policies that support it and emphasize the usefulness of IT are essential to effectiveness technology use, according to a study published online in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association.
The researchers polled 111 primary care providers and internal medicine residents at monthly staff meetings about an IT system that allowed patients to use self-service kiosks to input information, which they had been using for nearly two years at the time of the study. However, 38 of the providers had no knowledge of it, despite having had access for nearly two years.
The researchers then hypothesized that technology acceptance plays a large role in its effectiveness. If a provider is not required to use a technology and it is not seen as consistent with the users’ important workplace values, it will likely not be used effectively, according to the study.
Administrators need to implement policies and incentives to support health IT use, such as the use of on-site advocates who remove technological barriers and adapting the technology to clinical context.
“The extent to which users perceived the technology to be compatible with existing work processes directly affected their perceptions of ease of use,” the researchers wrote. “Developers must therefore closely map the target work domain throughout the development lifecycle, and implementers must emphasize similarities or consistencies between current work processes and the new technology.”
