ICT projects, development and/or research driven, are sources of new innovative eHealth solutions. However, the rate of continued use is low and gaining sustainable benefits in daily operations is difficult (Warth et al.). This research looks at the barriers for the organizational implementation based on research driven projects.
Three eHealth projects have been analyzed for aspects on the phenomenon, to gain a deeper understanding of the problem. Results are based on discussions between project participants, (professionals, decision makers, patients), and analysis of the project set ups and purposes.
ResultsFactors that could be seen as important for lack of continued use includes: pure research setup of projects, lack of financial resources in the post projects time , lack of organizational competences for adoption of solutions, no organizational champion or CEO support, lack of fit to organizational processes or scheduling, professional resistance to change, among others.
DiscussionProject set ups and working methods of the project might hamper the possibilities of effective knowledge transfer and organizational adoption. Experiences from mentioned projects show that a 360-degree co-design approach, which includes major stakeholder (for example, professionals, patients, researchers, patients, decisions makers) should be included. There is a need to prepare for knowledge transfer processes in post project phases, including competence development strategies for professionals and organizational change plans.
Conclusions A holistic understanding of conditions and challenges is needed for paving the way for health organization to reap benefits from research projects.
Lessons learned Projects need to include processes for engaging the stakeholders through 360 co-design, knowledge transfer plans and competence development strategies.
Limitations The research is exploratory and based on analysis of past and ongoing eHealth projects.
Suggestions for future researchBetter understanding for how to integrating competence development and organizational change as a part of eHealth project are needed. An investigation on digital competence among patients and healthcare personnel is planned, with the purpose of defining competence development strategies and requirements for IT-enabled cooperation and co-production.
Ubiquity Press, 2021. Vol. 21, no S1, article id 14