Attitudes and Behavior of Health Care Workers Before, During, and After Implementation of Real-Time Location System Technology

Abstract

Objective: To assess how staff attitudes before, during, and after implementation of a real-time location system (RTLS) that uses radio-frequency identification tags on staff and patient identification badges and on equipment affected staff's intention to use and actual use of an RTLS. Participants and Methods: A series of 3 online surveys were sent to staff at an emergency department with plans to implement an RTLS between June 1, 2015, and November 29, 2016. Each survey corresponded with a different phase of implementation: preimplementation, midimplementation, and postimplementation. Multiple logistic regression with backward elimination was used to assess the relationship between demographic variables, attitudes about RTLSs, and intention to use or actual use of an RTLS. Results: Demographic variables were not associated with intention to use or actual use of the RTLS. Before implementation, poor perceptions about the technology's usefulness and lack of trust in how employers would use tracking data were associated with weaker intentions to use the RTLS. During and after implementation, attitudes about the technology's use, not issues related to autonomy and privacy, were associated with less use of the technology. Conclusion: Real-time location systems have the potential to assess patterns of health care delivery that could be modified to reduce costs and improve the quality of care. Successful implementation, however, may hinge on how staff weighs attitudes and concerns about their autonomy and personal privacy with organizational goals. With the large investments required for new technology, serious consideration should be given to address staff attitudes about privacy and technology in order to assure successful implementation.

Psychosocial determinants of healthcare personnel’s willingness to carry real-time locating system tags during daily inpatient care in hospital managing COVID-19 patients: insights from a mixed-methods analysis

“…15 However, the potential of RTLS for contact tracing can only be realized with its successful implementation from HCP’s willingness to adopt and use it. 12 , 16 …”

“…The success of implementing a novel technology in an organization hinges on many factors, such as cost-efficiency, legal requirements, organizational culture, ease of adoption, and user acceptance of the new technology. 16–19 User acceptance is the linchpin of technology adoption and implementation success, 20 but ensuring compliance in technology adoption can be a challenge. 16 HCPs have to weigh the organization’s needs against their rights to privacy.…”

“… 16–19 User acceptance is the linchpin of technology adoption and implementation success, 20 but ensuring compliance in technology adoption can be a challenge. 16 HCPs have to weigh the organization’s needs against their rights to privacy. 16 , 21 , 22 Failure to address concerns over job insecurity, undesired scrutiny, and privacy loss, 21 can lead to staff resentment, underutilization, and even sabotage of the new technology.…”

“… 16 HCPs have to weigh the organization’s needs against their rights to privacy. 16 , 21 , 22 Failure to address concerns over job insecurity, undesired scrutiny, and privacy loss, 21 can lead to staff resentment, underutilization, and even sabotage of the new technology. 20 A handful of studies assessing HCP’s attitudes and perceptions on the use of RFID tags have been conducted in emergency departments, 16 , 18 , 21 with no study to date has been carried out in inpatient settings.…”

“… 16 , 21 , 22 Failure to address concerns over job insecurity, undesired scrutiny, and privacy loss, 21 can lead to staff resentment, underutilization, and even sabotage of the new technology. 20 A handful of studies assessing HCP’s attitudes and perceptions on the use of RFID tags have been conducted in emergency departments, 16 , 18 , 21 with no study to date has been carried out in inpatient settings. Furthermore, studies on the acceptance of RTLS in healthcare have focused largely on the views of the hospital management 17 , 23 , 24 but have rarely assessed for the acceptance of HCP who are the actual users of the technology, 25 much less evaluate the differences in the perceptions of different categories of HCP.…”