Adoption of New Technology using Rogers’ Theory

Adoption of New Technology using Rogers’ Theory

 According to Rodgers theory of Diffusion (2003) during a major change instead of focusing on persuading individuals to change, we should see change as being primarily about the evolution of products or behaviors that better fit the needs of individuals and groups. The purpose of this paper is to explain why certain changes happen so seamlessly while others fail miserably. I will be explaining using Rogers’ Theory how change can be executed with ease. I will state how his theory would be used if I were being the process of implementing a new EHR system at a small remote hospital in New York. I will explain the hesitancy of current staff and how to manage and assist the staff during this new change. We will explain in the following pages how I approach the staff in a meeting set up to help address their concerns and inform them how we will be assisting them through this new change.

Nurses as Change Agents

In our meeting there are a few questions that have been expressed that we would like to clarify with our employees, such as how this new system will be better than our current system and how will it affect the current workflow of the nurses? They have also asked what additional support will be provided during the implementation process. All these questions will be answered with the help of our Chief Nursing Officer. According to Hsiao, Chang, & Chen (2011) when management is involved in the implementation process and the introduction of a new EHR nurses tend to be more supportive of the decision. With the introduction of a new EHR to be successful, it is dire that our leadership show support and help to lead our team (Hyrkas & Harvey, 2010). Nurses are vital to our system being successful, they are the Change Agents. It is imperative that I explain to our staff how the new EHR will help improve the patient safety and the quality of the staffs work.

Relative Advantage

 Relative advantage according to Rodgers’ theory “is the degree to which an innovation is perceived as better than the idea it supersedes by a particular group of users (2003).” By allowing our staff to adopt this new system and see how it is an improvement and benefits us they will come to support our new EHR (Rogers, 2003). We will involve our current employed nurses in the implementation of our new system process to ensure acceptance (Page, 2011). We will also talk to our employees about the opportunity to become a super user with our new EHR system and provide help to some of our current nurses who are familiar with the new system we will be using. I will explain to the staff that our super users will be available during our “go-live” time, explaining how they can help with any questions, as well as simple navigation of the system.

Compatibility

 Compatibility is described by Rodgers (2013) as the point when a system is changed and how it is accepted by the degree in which it is perceived as being helpful and consistent with our hospitals values, past experiences, and needs of potential adopters (Rogers, 2003). Seeing as our goal is to provide the best quality and effective health care and I believe it will be detrimental to show our staff how our new system will make their work load lighter so that they are better able to use their time more effectively. By showing the staff how the new EHR will benefit one another as well as our patient’s safety and care. We will show them the continuity of information and explain how easy our system flows from form of information to the next. This will allow our staff to see and understand how these new innovations are beneficial.

Simplicity

Following Rodgers’ next step of Simplicity which is described as “the degree to which an innovation is perceived as difficult to understand and use (Rodgers, 20013)” I will begin by explaining to our staff about the help that we will provide our staff every step of the way during our go-live process.  We will implement the use of super users who are familiar with the new EHR and will be on the floor available to our staff to help ease them into the use of this new EHR. 

Trialability

 During our meeting I will then explain how we will provide the opportunity for our staff to schedule time for our training sessions. To allow our employees to practice and test out their knowledge of the system prior and during our go live process. An article I recently read stated that by having our employees feel involved in this process will increase our rate of success during our implementation process (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2015). We will also bring in the help of our IT department to help answer any user questions. Once the staff experiments with the new system they can provide vital feed back to our IT department about how to better work out some of the weaknesses in the system that they may see.

Observable Results

 I believe using our super users our staff will be able to see and ask them the positives of this system. During our meeting I will also bring in staff from our sister hospital who have already gone live to inform our staff how their workflow has become more efficient with the help of this new EHR system. This will help to stimulate peer discussion of the new system and then our staff will be more likely to adopt the new system (Rogers, 2003).

Conclusion

 By using Roger’s theory of the relative advantage, compatibility with existing practices, simplicity, trialability, and observable results I have organized how we will conduct our meeting. With Rogers theory to guide us we can help our staff be better acquainted with how we will begin our new system. I have helped to explain what it will look like as we work together to implement this new process by providing help with our super users and the help of our nurses who are our agent of change. I have also explained how by using our nurses to inform our IT department how to make the system more user friendly and point out any weakness this will allow us to work more effectively as a team. As stated by McGonigle & Mastrian (2015), when our staff is given the opportunity to be a part of the new system and process by providing feedback and helpful information we are more likely to succeed in the implementation of our new EHR. I believe with the help of Rogers’ theory guiding our new system and that because of our staff begin guided effectively that we will overcome the hesitancy that is present and

be better prepared for our new EHR.

References:

• Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York, NY: Free Press.

• Hsiao, J., Chang, H., & Chen, R. (2011). A study of factors affecting acceptance of hospital information systems: A nursing perspective. Journal of Nursing Research, 19(2), 150–160. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

• Hyrkäs, K., & Harvey, K. (2010). Leading innovation and change. Journal of Nursing Management,18(1), 1–3. 

• McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2015). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (3rd ed.) (pp 131-145). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.

• Page, D. (2011). Turning nurses into health IT superusers. Hospitals & Health Networks, 85(4), 27–28. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

References:

• Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York, NY: Free Press.
• Hsiao, J., Chang, H., & Chen, R. (2011). A study of factors affecting acceptance of hospital information systems: A nursing perspective. Journal of Nursing Research, 19(2), 150–160. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
• Hyrkäs, K., & Harvey, K. (2010). Leading innovation and change. Journal of Nursing Management,18(1), 1–3. 
• McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2015). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (3rd ed.) (pp 131-145). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.
• Page, D. (2011). Turning nurses into health IT superusers. Hospitals & Health Networks, 85(4), 27–28. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.