Tuesday October 2nd,
2:00 – 5:00 pm

At the 1st CNIA conference the author explored with the audience a preliminary research proposal in relation to unintended consequences of information communication technology (ICT) implementations. This presentation describes the outcomes of the subsequent qualitative research study undertaken at Vancouver General Hospital that focused on what Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) can learn from assessing the positive and negative unintended consequences of information communication technology implementations to help understand the determinants of successful ICT implementations.

Any implementation of new ICT initiatives changes the usual or expected workflow in a healthcare setting. Similarly, many expected improvements to patient care and patient safety result in both good and unforeseen changes, unintended consequences, which may limit effectiveness or provide unanticipated benefits. This research focused on the unintended consequences of introducing new technology to patient care units in a hospital setting – what you get is not always what you expect when new technology is introduced. In the study, a purposive sample of experienced ICT users participated in one-on-one interviews and a focus group session. Participants identified four key areas that would support ICT success: early end-user engagement, meaningful training and support, broad communication strategies, and consistent outcome evaluation. These findings will be discussed along with the study recommendations and organizational implications.

Biography

Val Cartmel, RN, BSN, MA is the Regional Leader, Clinical Informatics for Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH). In her role she provides leadership for IMIS (IT) staff and clinicians in relation to informatics initiatives at VCH. She currently is working with a project team introducing electronic clinical documentation for nurses and allied health staff. Val has been actively involved in the Nursing Informatics world since the early 1980’s at the provincial and national level as a founding member of the former BC Nursing Informatics group, COACH Nursing Informatics, and more recently CNIA.