Going mobile: An empirical model for explaining successful information logistics in ward rounds

Abstract

Background: Medical ward rounds are critical focal points of inpatient care that call for uniquely flexible solutions to provide clinical information at the bedside. While this fact is undoubted, adoption rates of mobile IT solutions remain rather low. Objectives: Our goal was to investigate if and how mobile IT solutions influence successful information provision at the bedside, i.e. clinical information logistics, as well as to shed light at socio-organizational factors that facilitate adoption rates from a user-centered perspective. Methods: Survey data were collected from 373 medical and nursing directors of German, Austrian and Swiss hospitals and analyzed using variance-based Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Results: The adoption of mobile IT solutions explains large portions of clinical information logistics and is in itself associated with an organizational culture of innovation and end user participation. Conclusion: Results should encourage decision makers to understand mobility as a core constituent of information logistics and thus to promote close end-user participation as well as to work towards building a culture of innovation. © 2018 The authors and IOS Press.