eHealth and Organizational Change in Hospital Setting: a Case Study on Electronic Health Records

Abstract

This chapter introduces a socio-technical organizational perspective on a EHR implementation in hospital setting through a qualitative a case study from one of the major hospital facilities in Portugal: the Hospital Doutor Fernando Fonseca in Amadora, Portugal. Through the account of eight key representatives pertaining to the main professional categories of the hospital, the researchers pinpointed the core organizational adjustments, strategic choices and relative challenges that anticipated, accompanied and followed the EHR implementation as perceived by key professionals, further capturing expectations concerning adjustments estimated but not yet realized. The study’s main contributions are identified in deepening the link between qualitative organizational studies and EHRs, offering an empirical case study portraying a change management experience that could be replicated in similar framesets, and furnishing practical recommendations and insights on what adjustments are to be enacted, and which challenges to be expected, when implementing an EHR in hospital settings.