title: An empirical study to determine factors that motivate and limit the implementation of ICT in healthcare environments.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The maturity and usage of wireless technology has influenced health services, and this has raised expectations from users that healthcare services will become more affordable due to technology growth. There is increasing evidence to justify this expectation, as telehealth is becoming more and more prevalent in many countries. Thus, health services are now offered beyond the boundaries of traditional hospitals, giving rise to many external factors dictating their quality. This has led us to investigate the factors that motivate and limit the implementation of ICT applications in the healthcare domain.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used a mixed method approach with the qualitative aspects leading the quantitative aspects. The main reason for this approach was to understand and explore the domain through the qualitative aspects as we could be part of the discussion. Then we conducted a quantitative survey to extract more responses in order to justify the claims explored in the qualitative process.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that there are a number of internal and external factors influencing ICT adoption in the healthcare environment so that services can be provided via ICT tools. These factors were grouped under factors contributing to improved outcomes, efficiency and the management of technology. We conceptualised that these three groups of factors drive ICT implementation to assure health services.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The main lesson learned from this research was that Information Systems discipline needs to urgently consider health informatics as a serious growth area. We also found that as IS researchers, we need to 'mix' with the health environment in order to understand the environment and then develop suitable methods to answer posited research questions.
authors.affiliation: School of Management and Enterprise, University of Southern Queensland, West Street, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia. gururaja@usq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Raj
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gururajan
authors.affiliation: School of Management and Enterprise, University of Southern Queensland, West Street, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia. abdulhb@usq.edu.au.
authors.forename: Abdul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hafeez-Baig
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001315:Australia; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D017144:Focus Groups; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D012044:Regression Analysis; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D059015:Wireless Technology / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*