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Blog
Debi Taylor, MSN, RN, SCRN

Healthcare Technology: Avoiding the Cost of Failure to Adopt

Several years ago, I was invited to attend a vendor fair by my Chief Nursing Executive. The organization intended to replace one of the technologies we used to administer medications to our patients. After vetting the contenders, we found out that the technology we had was the superior product and that we had not been aware of, nor maximizing, its potential to optimize our clinical teams’ workflow. We could have been saving hundreds of hours that should have been spent at our patient’s bedsides. Once we were aware of the functionality, it was fairly intuitive, but driving the adoption of these existing features took some work. This led me to some realizations as it relates to adopting new tech in healthcare:

Intuitive functionality does not equal intuitive adoption

This experience demonstrated that intuitive functionality does not equal intuitive awareness or adoption. Some complexities exist within clinical workflows, such as varied disease states, teams, providers and resources. Learning about a new technology’s features and how it helps to accomplish goals is one thing. Successfully integrating a new technology into your clinical workflow and achieving the intended outcome is another, and may present barriers to adoption.

Potential barriers to technology adoption

When faced with the opportunity to improve clinical outcomes with new technology, you’ll need to scope potential barriers of adoption. Having the right stakeholders involved is paramount and understanding the upstream and downstream impacts of introducing new technologies into a clinical workflow is crucial. If you fail to do either of these, it could lead to failed product adoption.

Overcoming barriers through clinical workflow optimization and training  

Typically, the goal of introducing new technologies into a clinical workflow is to improve treatment timelines, clinical outcomes and team efficiency while reducing errors and costs. That said, it makes sense to engage in a clinical workflow optimization and training project. Conducting a clinical workflow optimization and training project will allow your team to:

  1. Recognize the complexities within your organization
  2. Understand new technology features and how they integrate into your workflow
  3. Understand key change management activities, and
  4. Develop a well-thought-out integration and training plan that monitors for success.

Steps you can take for successful product adoption

The next time you vet a new technology for your healthcare organization, ask your vendor what tools and teams they have to help with product integration and adoption. Do they have a program that ensures they understand your clinical team workflow? Do they have tools to make optimization recommendations based on your specific needs? Can they offer training customized to your workflow and ways to help your team monitor the progress of your success? These are all crucial questions that can make or break successful implementation.


At Aidoc, we recognize the complexities that exist within your organization and understand that change management begins with a well-thought-out integration plan.  Our Solution Success team are clinically trained subject matter experts who will work with you to successfully integrate Aidoc solutions into your clinical workflow.

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