The importance of interaction in the implementation of information technology in health care: A symbolic interactionism study on the meaning of accessibility

Abstract

A challenge when groups from different disciplines work together in implementing health information technology (HIT) in a health-care context is that words often have different meanings depending upon work practices, and definition of situations. Accessibility is a word commonly associated with HIT implementation. This study aimed to investigate different meanings of accessibility when implementing HIT in everyday work practice in a health-care context. It focused on the perspective of nurses to highlight another view of the complex relationship between HIT and information in a health-care context. This is a qualitative study influenced by institutional ethnographic. District nurses and student nurses were interviewed. The results indicate that when implementing HIT accessibility depends on working routines, social structures and patient relationship. The findings of the study suggest that interaction needs to take on a more important role when implementing HIT because people act upon words from the interpreted meaning of them. Symbolic interactionism is proposed as a way to set a mutual stage to facilitate an overall understanding of the importance of the meaning of words. There is a need for making place and space for negotiation of the meaning of words when implementing HIT in everyday work practice.

The influence of social challenges when implementing information systems in a Swedish health-care organisation

“…, Nilsson et al . ), they need to focus on the importance of communicating (Balka ) and reusing information and the fact that shared information and understandings are fundamental to rules and routines. If nurses do not know how to communicate about received information, their everyday work might be affected.…”

“…To gain an overall picture of delayed implementation processes of IS in health care it is important to draw attention to the interconnectedness of technical and social issues (Nilsson et al . , Meeks et al . ).…”

“…Nurses' experiences of being neglected when IS are implemented in their practice have been dismissed as reasons for setbacks (Procter & Woodburn 2012), although IS are intended to assist them in their everyday work (Johansson et al 2011), which implies that their experiences of IS in practice should be taken seriously. To gain an overall picture of delayed implementation processes of IS in health care it is important to draw attention to the interconnectedness of technical and social issues (Nilsson et al 2012, Meeks et al 2014. Jeskey et al (2011) argue that management and nurses' professional identity have an influence on how technical issues are addressed when implementing IS in health care.…”

Framing the implementation process of video conferencing in discharge planning – according to staff experience

“…According to Rogers [27], the early majority has close contact with earlier adopter categories while laggards are isolated from other adopter categories and emphasize tradition in the way things are made and done. Pinch [35] and Nilsson et al [36] indicate that tradition in a social context is important to understand and respect when technology is implemented within that context. If a whole local authority is included in an adopter category, discharge planning could be a task in everyday work that is associated with traditions and habits, as well as culture [20], regarding how the task ought to be performed.…”

Awakening the Conscience Inside: The Spirituality of Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants

“…For a symbolic interactionist (Nilsson et.,al., 2012;Blumer, 1969), code of ethics for professional accountants is a symbol that refers to integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality, and professional behaviour (IESBA, 2013).They are actually the fundamental principles of the code.They are created by International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) (Anonymous, 2005;George, 2005) to direct a professional accountant towards behaviour and action under the principles.…”