Use of Healthcare IS by Multiple User Groups: An Empirical Study of a Medication Management System

Integrated healthcare information systems, such as a closed loop medication management system (CLMMS), have been developed to support the inter-linked work of multiple user groups including doctors, pharmacists, and nurses. With the challenges faced in assessing the use and impact of such systems, there is limited research on this topic that takes into account the behaviors of multiple user groups. In particular, there is a lack of understanding of how system use by one user group affects the perceptions and outcomes of other groups regarding the system. This study develops a model to understand how the perceived appropriate use by one user group can affect the system satisfaction and impact of individuals of another group, based on the faithfulness of appropriation (FOA) concept from the Adaptive Structuration Theory. A pilot survey was conducted with 199 nurses, 76 doctors, and 36 pharmacists using a CLMMS in a public hospital. Use of the IS was found to affect both user satisfaction and individual impact in most cases, and user satisfaction in turn influenced individual impact. Doctors’ FOA affected nurses’ and pharmacists’ user satisfaction and individual impact while pharmacists’ FOA influenced doctors’ user satisfaction but not individual impact. The expected contributions and remaining research plan are described.