Designing administrative support systems for healthcare organizations
Year: 2015
Type: dissertation
Abstract: In modern healthcare organizations, work is increasingly team-oriented, which puts pressure on information technology to support staff collaborations. Healthcare organizations are lagging behind in the use of IT and often use outdated systems. A reason for this is the long and cumbersome process of IT-procurement. Stand-alone systems can help such organizations be more efficient, and receptive of the latest technologies, while conveying lower risks, and increased chances of successful implementation. Therefore, this study has investigated what problems can be expected, and how to manage them, when designing such systems. The study was conducted at the Department for Reconstructive Surgery at Karolinska University Hospital. Action research was used, and a system supporting the scheduling of doctors was deigned, implemented and evaluated. The study consists of an initial exploratory phase, a design and implementation phase, and an evaluation phase. The findings of this study indicate that the problems that can be expected when developing a stand-alone system at a small specialized healthcare department are: 1) that the hierarchies among staff may lead to failure to accept designs and the designs not taking all stakeholders into account, 2) that the complexity may lead to an inability to identify the real problems and define appropriate design-goals, and 3) that the combination of 1 and 2 hinders a mutual understanding of design-goals, problems, and solutions. To manage the problems, this study suggests the use of participatory design, user centered system design, and a computer supported collaborative work approach, and provides guidelines for using these to reach an effective implementation.
Authors: Eric Berglund, Olof Danielsson
Language: English
Subfield: Management Information Systems
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1120796028