Towards Understanding and Overcoming Hurdles in PDMS Projects in Germany

While the benefits reaped by patient data management systems (PDMS) are well understood, the market penetration in Germany still remains rather low. Managerial issues are considered to be one of the main reasons for this phenomenon. Based on a study carried out, hurdles for PDMS implementations have been identified for this specific industry and have been matched to a literature-based change management framework. Furthermore, with the help of expert interviews some first guidelines have been derived in order to overcome the most important obstacles. The implementation of appropriate change management measures is absolutely necessary to support end user acceptance in this industry. However, one important finding is that the trade-off between end user acceptance and reaping the full benefits of the PDMS needs to be balanced very carefully.