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Unintended Consequences of Information Technologies in Health Care—An Interactive Sociotechnical Analysis

Unintended Consequences of Information Technologies in Health Care—An Interactive Sociotechnical... AbstractMany unintended and undesired consequences of Healthcare Information Technologies (HIT) flow from interactions between the HIT and the healthcare organization's sociotechnical system—its workflows, culture, social interactions, and technologies. This paper develops and illustrates a conceptual model of these processes that we call Interactive Sociotechnical Analysis (ISTA). ISTA captures common types of interaction with special emphasis on recursive processes, i.e., feedback loops that alter the newly introduced HIT and promote second-level changes in the social system. ISTA draws on prior studies of unintended consequences, along with research in sociotechnical systems, ergonomics, social informatics, technology-in-practice, and social construction of technology. We present five types of sociotechnical interaction and illustrate each with cases from published research. The ISTA model should further research on emergent and recursive processes in HIT implementation and their unintended consequences. Familiarity with the model can also foster practitioners' awareness of unanticipated consequences that only become evident during HIT implementation. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association Oxford University Press

Unintended Consequences of Information Technologies in Health Care—An Interactive Sociotechnical Analysis

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References (70)

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Copyright
American Medical Informatics Association
ISSN
1067-5027
eISSN
1527-974X
DOI
10.1197/jamia.M2384
pmid
17600093
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AbstractMany unintended and undesired consequences of Healthcare Information Technologies (HIT) flow from interactions between the HIT and the healthcare organization's sociotechnical system—its workflows, culture, social interactions, and technologies. This paper develops and illustrates a conceptual model of these processes that we call Interactive Sociotechnical Analysis (ISTA). ISTA captures common types of interaction with special emphasis on recursive processes, i.e., feedback loops that alter the newly introduced HIT and promote second-level changes in the social system. ISTA draws on prior studies of unintended consequences, along with research in sociotechnical systems, ergonomics, social informatics, technology-in-practice, and social construction of technology. We present five types of sociotechnical interaction and illustrate each with cases from published research. The ISTA model should further research on emergent and recursive processes in HIT implementation and their unintended consequences. Familiarity with the model can also foster practitioners' awareness of unanticipated consequences that only become evident during HIT implementation.

Journal

Journal of the American Medical Informatics AssociationOxford University Press

Published: Sep 1, 2007

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