Author: Stephen F. Kry, Andrea Molineu 👨🔬
Affiliation: The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center 🌍
Purpose: This study aims to introduce knowledge and tools from the fields of implementation science and change management to the medical physicist.
Methods: Medical physicists often implement new technologies in the clinic. These range from in-house developed software to new commercial treatment planning systems to artificial intelligence (AI) packages. However, spending many hours customizing an AI tool no one uses is disheartening and frustrating. Sittig and Singh’s Sociotechnical Model lists eight dimensions to consider when implementing new technology. They are hardware/software computing infrastructure, clinical content, human-computer interface, people, workflow and communication, internal policies and culture, external regulations, and system monitoring. Each of these will be presented and discussed with examples.
Results: The audience will learn Sittig and Singh’s Sociotechnical Model and how to use it when implementing new physics technology. Technology implementations that have met various successes will be shared, and the steps that could have been improved will be discussed.
Conclusion: Successfully implementing technology in a hospital is a skill that can be developed. It is not limited to understanding the technology alone. People, processes, and technology must all be considered when planning an efficient implementation.
Sittig DF, Singh H. A new sociotechnical model for studying health information technology in complex adaptive healthcare systems. Qual Saf Health Care 2010;19(Suppl 3):i68–74.