Test the artefact—Develop the organization: The implementation of an electronic medication plan

Objective and methodsThe paper aims to develop further insights into the process of implementation of IT in health care by describing findings from a study of a trial implementation of a newly developed electronic medication plan (EMP) in three hospitals in a county in Denmark. A sociotechnical perspective is applied to data acquired by the qualitative methods of participant observation and semi-structured open-ended interviews.ConclusionsThe achievement of fit between IT technology and work processes in health care involves the establishment of new organizational structures that cut across the existing divisionalized hospital organization and a detailed alignment of artefact, functionality and work process. This process can be furthered by supporting ‘communities of practice’, i.e. informal groups of engaged clinicians. A sociotechnical perspective is beneficial to the analysis of such processes.