Macro and microergonomic factors governing the sharing of electronic patient information across organisational boundaries: Findings from the UK

Since 2005 as part of the UK National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT) a number of Electronic Patient Record (EPR) systems have been rolled out within the NHS. These include systems designed to summarise patient related information (e.g., prescribed medicines, allergies), as well as facilitate handover between primary and secondary care providers. So far the implementation of NPfIT systems has proved to be highly problematic and subject to huge delays. Recent research carried out on NPfIT systems has concluded that a tightly interwoven set of technical and social/organisational factors have resulted in low uptake of these systems within the UK. Greenhalgh et al. (2010) for example, point to technical barriers (e.g., lack of system interoperability), social barriers (e.g., stakeholder resistance to the implementation), as well as larger-scale organisational barriers (e.g., poor compatibility between the technology and organisational routines/patterns of workflow).