Identification of benefits and barriers for the adoption of e-health information systems using a socio-technical approach

Abstract

Although current research reports substantial benefits of the use of e-health systems and the barriers for their implementation, there are many inconsistencies between the results reported. Aiming to unify existing views and to identify the roots of such inconsistencies, this research used a socio-technical approach to collect data from two e-health projects. The results suggest that although there are some benefits and barriers that are consistent amongst those reported, new benefits and barriers were found. The qualitative approach to this study helped to identify possible ways to overcome these barriers and to propose alternative ways to justify the implementation of e-health systems.