Implementing Information Systems in Health Care Organizations: Myths and Challenges

Successfully implementing patient care information systems (PCISs) in health care organizations appears to be a difficult task. After critically examining the very notions of 'success' and 'failure', and discussing the problematic nature of lists of 'critical success- or failure factors', this paper discusses three myths that often hamper implementation processes. First of all, PCIS implementation is a process of mutual transformation; the organization and the technology transform each other during the implementation process, which in turn can transform the organization. Secondly, successful PCIS implementation occurs when properly supported by both central management and future users; a top down framework for the implementation is crucial to turn user-input into a coherent steering force. Finally, the management of IS implementation processes is a balancing act between initiating organizational change, and drawing upon IS as a change agent, without attempting to pre-specify and control this process. Accepting, and even drawing upon, this inevitable uncertainty might be the hardest lesson to learn.