Using Diffusion of Innovation Concepts to Enhance Implementation of an Electronic Health Record to Support Evidence-Based Practice

The article identifies the explosion of clinical data that are available and how difficult it is for clinicians to find answers to clinical questions. Electronic health records (EHRs) are used increasingly to assist clinicians in this process; however, resistance to the implementation of technology-assisted care is not uncommon. The article reviews the diffusion of innovation research and provides the nurse manager with suggestions for applying these concepts to enhance the implementation of an EHR that can support evidence-based practice. Five characteristics of innovations are discussed as they help explain different rates of adoption. These characteristics go under the acroynm TACOS: Trialability (Can we try this on a small scale first?), Advantage (Is this an important goal for our unit?), Compatability (Will the practice work in our environment?), Observability (Can we see the practice in action at another site?), and Simplicity (How big a change will this be?). The five-stage innovation-decision process is studied as it relates to EHR implementations.