Grant: Operating Grant

Information and Communication Technologies are perceived as essential tools in support to collaborative problem-solving process between researchers and health care system decision makers. The Electronic Health Record (EHR) is considered as the building block for integrating various Information and Communication Technologies applications (e.g.: electronic prescriptions, decision support systems, digital imagery) that could improve Canadian health care system safety, effectiveness and efficiency. To this end, federal, provincial, and territorial governments are promoting the implementation of EHRs across Canada. Despite increasing evidence on EHR benefits, the literature in conjunction with several previous experiences highlights numerous barriers to its integration in the health care system. Human and organizational factors have been reported to influence HER implementation success. However, previous studies have neither assessed the relative importance of individual and organizational characteristics on EHR adoption nor the relationships between these two levels of influence. We propose to explore unique contributions of, as well as interrelations between, human and organizational factors influencing the adoption of EHR by nurses and physicians in order to develop effective strategies to achieve optimal integration of this technology in the health care system.