Recognizing nurse stakeholder dissonance as a critical determinant of patient safety in new healthcare information technologies.
Proper identification of all stakeholders and the comprehensive assessment of their evolving and often conflicting Needs, Wants, and Desires (NWDs) is a fundamental principle of human factors science and human-centered systems engineering; it is not yet a consistent element in development and deployment of new health information technologies (HIT). As the single largest group of healthcare professionals, nurses are critical stakeholders for these new technologies. Careful analysis can reveal nurse stakeholder dissonance (NSD) when integrating new technologies into the healthcare environment. Stakeholder dissonance is a term that describes the conflict between the NWDs of different stakeholders which, if left unresolved, can result in dissatisfaction, workarounds, errors, and threats to patient safety. Three case studies drawn from the authors' experience in a variety of acute-care settings where new HITs have been recently deployed are examined to illustrate the concept of NSD. Conflicting NWDs, other stakeholders, and possible root causes of the NSD are analyzed and mapped to threats to patient safety. Lessons learned, practical guidance for anticipating, identifying, and mitigating NSD, future research and implications for HFE and nursing practice are discussed.
Department of Nursing, Colorado State University-Pueblo, 2200 Bonforte Blvd. Pueblo, Colorado 81001, USA. elizabeth.samaras@colostate-pueblo.edu
Elizabeth A
EA
Samaras
Sara D
SD
Real
Amber M
AM
Curtis
Tessa S
TS
Meunier
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D006804:Ergonomics; D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics; D050316:Medical Order Entry Systems; D008875:Middle Aged; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D061214:Patient Safety; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult