Undertaking sociotechnical evaluations of health information technologies.
There is an increasing international recognition that the evaluation of health information technologies should involve assessments of both the technology and the social/organisational contexts into which it is deployed. There is, however, a lack of agreement on definitions, published guidance on how such 'sociotechnical evaluations' should be undertaken, and how they distinguish themselves from other approaches. We explain what sociotechnical evaluations are, consider the contexts in which these are most usefully undertaken, explain what they entail, reflect on the potential pitfalls associated with such research, and suggest possible ways to avoid these.
The School of Health in Social Science, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9DX, UK.
Kathrin M
KM
Cresswell
Centre for Population Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9DX, UK; Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02120-1613, USA.
Aziz
A
Sheikh
D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D008490:Medical Informatics; D008491:Medical Informatics Applications; D015279:Organizational Culture; D014584:User-Computer Interface