The world is rapidly changing and advancing in terms of science and technology. It has become extremely difficult to escape the presence of technology, either at the individual or organizational level. Some of the key technological changes include the internet, smart phones, and the use of computers. Many people and organization are now finding themselves in a situation where they cannot exist without technology, and the health organizations are not left behind, as they are rapidly adopting health care informatics into their systems. The essay, therefore, focuses on a case where a larger medical center is rapidly introducing computer system, and it is facing resistance from three of its employees who have not embraced the new system.
Theories are used to explain the process by which some events take place within an individual, organization or community. Theories can be used to explain human behaviors in different situations (Edmondson, Bohmer & Pisano, 2001). As a result, health information specialists use some theories to guide their practices and operations. Some of the commonly used theories to explain human behavior about health care informatics include system theories, chaos theory, complexity theory, learning theory, and change theory.
The proponents of system theory argue that an organization should clearly identify the purpose of the new system and clarify why it is needed. Therefore, the introduction of health care informatics should involve every stakeholder, especially the end users for it to be successfully implemented (Tan & Ong, 2002). The introduction of new systems can bring change that can result in intended and unintended consequences, which are explained by chaos theory. Introducing new computer system into a medical center requires learning, as staff must have knowledge and skills to know how to use the system. According to the learning theory, the training programs must be sensitive to different learning techniques by different staff (Edmondson, Bohmer & Pisano, 2001). Moreover, there are some people in an organization who resist any change while others easily embrace change. Therefore, there should be continuous training until the new system is fully implemented and the early adopters and laggards should work together.
Therefore, some of the diagnoses that are identified in the case of the medical center include:
Rapid introduction of a computer system without clearly stating the purpose and the need for the new system.
Lack of proper training and education programs
Focusing on the laggards instead of formulating policies that ensure that every employee complies with the new system
Poor management of change process during the introduction of the computer system.
The introduction of any change to a system requires sufficient time because it comes with some changes that may affect the behaviors of the end users (Sweis et al., 2014). As a result, the three-year implementation period of the computer system in the medical center is not sufficient. The organization might have faced the initial resistance from many employees due to lack of involving all stakeholders during planning. There are some people in the organization, especially the aged who requires special training to adopt fully the new system, which called for different types of training. Furthermore, it is hard to make laggards adopt the new system, and they can only be made to use the new system through regulations and policies (Jackson, 2009). Therefore, the change agents did not properly manage the change process, as they did not consider some factors that could affect the implementation of the new system.
In order to successfully implement the new system, I would recommend that medical center to come up with a program that enables early adopters, late majority and laggards to work together. The three physicians who are resisting the change are likely to feel comfortable when their peers train them rather than the health information specialists or the change agents. Also, they are also likely to be influenced by peer pressure to adopt the new system as Sweis et al. (2014) note.
Secondly, I would recommend continuous employee training, which will ensure that all staff is comfortable with the new system. Continuous training will ensure that laggards gain knowledge and skills on how to use the new system (Sweis et al., 2014). It will also factor in slow learners in the organization who require additional training to master the system fully. It is through adequate and proper training that employees will have the required knowledge and skills to use the new computers system. Also, there is a need for the training to involve experts in different areas because, historically, health professionals have had challenges of achieving interoperability between different formats due to dissimilar computer systems (Tetteh, 2014). Therefore, continuous training provides an opportunity to eradicate all the possible challenges that can affect the implementation of the new system in the medical center.
In conclusion, the change agents in the health care sector should come up with effective ways of introducing new information system to avoid resistance from employees. It is important to explain the purpose and reason of executing the new system to all stakeholders to minimize resistance. The successful implementation of the new system can also be carried out through proper and effective training. However, resistance to a new system is inevitable, but it can be minimized through proper management of change process.
References
Edmondson, A. C., Bohmer, R. M., & Pisano, G. P. (2001). Disrupted routines: Team learning and new technology implementation in hospitals. Administrative Science Quarterly, 46(4), 685-716.
Jackson, K. M. (2009). Electronic Health Records and Public Health Informatics.
Sweis, R. J., Isa, A., HalimehAzzeh, B., Musa, E., & AlBtoush, R. M. (2014). Nurses’ Resistance to the Adoption of Information Technology in Jordanian Hospitals. Life Science Journal, 11(4s).
Tan, L., & Ong, K. L. (2002). The impact of medical technology on healthcare today. Hong Kong Journal of Emergency Medicine, 9(4), 231-236.
Tetteh, G. K. (2014). State-of-the-Art: Research Theoretical Framework of Information Systems Implementation Research in the Health Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Health Informatics in Developing Countries, 8(2).
