End-user participation in the needs assessment for a clinical information system

The successful introduction of a new information system requires technological and behavioral changes. Intended users of the new system should participate in defining goals for the system, examining alternatives for achieving these goals, and selecting from these alternatives. Broad-based end-user involvement is especially useful during the needs assessment (goal definition) phase, both to identify the diverse expectations of the end-user community and to develop a sense of system ownership by these users. System planners can stimulate active end-user involvement by inviting each constituent user group (for example, each hospital department) to assume responsibility for specifying its objectives for the new system. The collection of all groups' objectives defines the organization's expectations of a new system, provides a means for comparing systems, and aids in predicting the overall acceptance of any proposed system. Each constituent group's list of objectives likewise provides a measure of anticipated acceptance for that group.