Implementing a new health management information system in Uganda.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Information Systems Management
• Organizational Change Management

Background:

• Health management information system (HMIS) implementation in Uganda faced challenges.
• Planned change was dominated by technological issues, not wider organizational factors.
• Practitioners underestimated the complexity of information system changes in low-income countries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the HMIS implementation process in Uganda.
• To analyze the applicability of diffusion of innovation and dynamic equilibrium models.
• To understand the organizational context influencing information system implementation.

Main Methods:

• Utilized diffusion of innovation and dynamic equilibrium organizational change models.
• Analyzed the HMIS development process in Uganda.
• Integrated organizational theory with the diffusion of innovation framework.

Main Results:

• Neither diffusion of innovation nor dynamic equilibrium models guided the HMIS development.
• Technological issues overshadowed organizational considerations during planned change.
• Developers failed to recognize the shift to an informational management approach and its required strategies.

Conclusions:

• Organizational context is critical for successful information system implementation, especially in low-income settings.
• Integrating organizational theory with diffusion of innovation provides context and reasons for implementation processes.
• These integrated frameworks can aid in managing future information management innovations as staged processes.