puters can land people on Mars, why can#39;t they get them to work in a hospital- Implementation of an Electronic Patient Record System in a UK Hospital.docVIP

“Computers can land people on Mars, why can’t they get them to work in a hospital?” Implementation of an Electronic Patient Record System in a UK Hospital. M.R. Jones Judge Institute of Management Studies University of Cambridge Trumpington Street Cambridge CB2 1AG UK Email: m.jones@jims.cam.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)1223 338188/339700 Fax: +44 (0)1223 339701 Abstract Ambitious government targets for the use of Information Technology in the UK National Health Service sit alongside a history of notable project failures. The decision by a UK hospital to install an advanced, integrated Electronic Patient Record system therefore faced competing demands and expectations. Describing the process of implementation of this system over more than 3 years, this paper suggests that its simple categorisation as either a success or failure is problematic. Rather, the differing viewpoints that lead some clinicians to express “disappointment” with its performance, while others described its features as “tremendous” and managers suggested that the system had become “taken for granted” are explored. A number of broader phenomena relating to the organisational processes surrounding information systems implementation are also identified. 1. Introduction The UK National Health Service (NHS) has been criticised for its low level of expenditure on information technology relative to other economic sectors and government departments [1], and the UK government has set ambitious targets for NHS computerisation. Its most recent initiative “Information for Health” [2], for example, includes calls for the establishment of a lifelong electronic health record for all people in the country, to which end all acute hospitals are expected to have implemented systems that will provide “round-the-clock on-line access to patient records and information about best clinical practice, for all NHS clinicians” by 2005. The record of the NHS in IT implementation, however, has been, to say the least, somewhat c