Exploiting the potential of the NPfIT: a local design approach
Can ‘push’ be turned to ‘pull’? Ken Eason, Director of the
Bayswater Institute and Professor Emeritus at Loughborough University,
argues that it is both necessary and possible. He has conducted many
research studies of the organisational consequences of implementing IT
systems and has pioneered user-centred approaches to the development of
sociotechnical systems. In this article Professor Eason offers an approach
for constructively applying England’s NPfIT systems to local
service-improvement objectives and priorities.
ABSTRACT
England’s National Programme for IT in the NHS can be characterised as
using a ‘push’ strategy to implement standardised systems across the NHS.
Evidence from similar implementations in other organisations suggests that,
because of local variations in healthcare requirements, this will lead to:
implementation failures and delays; partial use; and inefficient
workarounds. To avoid these outcomes local user communities need to develop
‘pull’ strategies in which they examine how they can exploit the new
technical systems to improve local healthcare practices in ways that are
important in their context. A user-centred, local design approach is
proposed for this purpose based on six principles: studying the local
‘sociotechnical’ system; understanding local ambitions; establishing local
planning teams; reviewing the implications of incoming NPfIT systems;
designing local systems; and implementing systems using action research to
review user experiences.
Br J Healthcare Comput Info Manage 2005; 22(7): 14–16. |
