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Knowledge Freedom for Medical Professionals – An Evaluation Study of a Mobile Information System for Physicians in Finland

Ville Harkke, Knowledge Freedom for Medical Professionals – An Evaluation Study of a Mobile Information System for Physicians in Finland. TUCS Dissertations 72. Turku Centre for Computer Science, 2006.

Abstract:

The health care industry in the industrialised world is facing increasing pressures from changing demographics and scarce financing. As other businesses have been embracing the new information technologies, the health care sector has been somewhat lagging behind. One explanation to this is that fixed computer terminals are not perfectly suited to the work environments of the health care professionals. The emergence of mobile systems provides a potential remedy to this problem. Mobile systems could support health care work in ways that were impossible with the fixed terminals. There remains numerous problems connected to the information infrastructure and work processes that are not affected by mobilising information, but the potential of mobile systems is indisputable.

This thesis sets out to explore the possible effects of mobile technology in health care by presenting an evaluation of a mobile information system for physicians. The evaluation is intended to capture all of the effects the system under study has on physicians' work, thereby revealing some underlying mechanisms of mobile systems usage and potential for medical professionals. The system studied here, the Duodecim Mobile Package for the Nokia 9210 Communicator, consists of searchable databases containing general medical knowledge.

The impact of any new system or technology can be measured in its ability to change the structures of everyday life. The system evaluated here has a limited effect on these, mainly because of limitations in the contents and functionalities of the system and poor fit to the everyday routines of the users. Outside the routines the system performs remarkably well and definitely serves a purpose. As the system is mobile the usage contexts and usage patterns are numerous. The usage is concentrated to situations where the benefits of the system are most obvious, but the system is used even in unexpected surroundings. The main drivers for using the system are its usefulness in various situations and the quality of its contents.

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BibTeX entry:

@PHDTHESIS{phdHarkke06a,
  title = {Knowledge Freedom for Medical Professionals – An Evaluation Study of a Mobile Information System for Physicians in Finland},
  author = {Harkke, Ville},
  number = {72},
  series = {TUCS Dissertations},
  school = {Turku Centre for Computer Science},
  year = {2006},
  keywords = {Electronic healthcare, Information Systems Evaluation, Mobile Systems, Mobile Work, Technology Acceptance},
  ISBN = {951-29-3046-3},
}

Belongs to TUCS Research Unit(s): Mobile Commerce

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