Evaluating the Organizational Impact of Health Care Information Systems

The book provides a practical guide for determining the appropriate questions to ask based on underlying models of change and the most effective methods available. An introduction to various methods is provided, as well as appendices containing survey instruments usable in research and evaluation, computer programs for data analyses, and other evaluation resources. The book provides a critical overview of current research and evaluation to date with numerous bibliographic references from health care and other fields. The methods and instruments described are applicable to a wide variety of other organizations that utilize information technology and they emphasize the importance of clearly specifying the purpose of the evaluation, recognizing assumptions about organizational change and using a multi-method approach to system evaluation. The material presented is drawn from a variety of social and health science disciplines in order to integrate the study of information system with social science theory and methods. Chapter highlights include Cognitive Approaches to Evaluation, Computer Simulation as an Evaluation Tool, and Research and Evaluation: Future Directions.§§Evaluating the Organizational Impact of Health Care Information Systems, Second Edition is timely since annual investment in information technology by health care organization in the U.S. now exceeds $15 billion. It will prove valuable to physicians, nurses, other health care providers, health care administrators, information systems personnel and consultants who are involved in planning, developing, implementing, utilizing and evaluating computer-based health care systems.