Indicators of organizational readiness for clinical information technology/systems innovation: a Delphi study

The study presented in this article represents the second phase in a multi- phased research program focused on health care organization readiness, for clinical information technology/system (IT/S) innovation. The overall purpo ses of this exploratory study were to: (1) validate the seven IT/S innovati on readiness sub-dimensions of a heuristic organizational information techn ology/systems innovation model (OITIM) developed in phase one of the resear ch program, and (2) identify indicators to assess the validated sub-dimensi ons. The study was conducted with an expert panel using a two-round modifie d Delphi technique. In Round #1, panelists supported retention of the OITIM s' seven theoretical IT/S innovation readiness sub-dimensions with an inter rater agreement level range of 82-100%. Their sub-dimension importance rati ngs ranged from 3.27 to 3.72 (1 = not important to 4 = critically important ) with the resources sub-dimension receiving the highest rating of 3.72. Pa nelists recommended that two sub-dimensions, 'Staffing and Skills' and 'Ope rations', be renamed to 'End-Users' and 'Management Structures', respective ly, and that one sub-dimension, 'Administrative Support' be added. In Round #2, panelists identified a total of 316 indicators to assess the eight sub -dimensions. A two-step thematic analysis process was done with these indic ators to reduce duplication and overlap. In Step 1, the investigator create d ten preliminary theme categories per sub-dimension. In Step 2, a coding t eam categorized 279 (88%) of the 316 indicators into preliminary sub-dimens ion themes to create an organizational IT/S innovation readiness assessment taxonomy. This preliminary taxonomy was used to develop an organizational information technology/systems innovation readiness scale that is currently being pilot tested in phase three of the research program. (C) 2001 Elsevi er Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.