Tool for E-Health Preparedness Assessment in the Context of an Influenza Pandemic

Background

E-Health implementations represent a disruptive change in the healthcare workplace. Change occurs not simply due to the introduction of ICT infrastructure but also because the job design of interconnected health professionals should be re-engineered to effectively and efficiently accommodate the technology (Ford et al., 2006). Consequently, E-Health applications may fail due to organisational incapability to undergo the transformation during the implementation and/or resistance to change at the individual level (Jennett et al., 2004). The implementation of any information system in an organisational context requires proper planning and management for change (Callioni, 2006). Prior to E-Health implementation, a number of issues need to be assessed and addressed in the organisational context. As argued by Li et al., (2012), without healthcare providers’ dissatisfaction with the status quo and sufficient organisational resources required to support steps for change, a clinical ICT innovation would not succeed.