Do hospital physicians' attitudes change during PACS implementation? A cross-sectional acceptance study.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Medical Imaging Technology
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) are crucial in modern healthcare for managing medical images.
• Understanding physician adoption factors is key to successful PACS implementation and utilization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the factors influencing hospital physicians' acceptance and use of PACS.
• To determine how these factors change with increased physician experience using PACS.

Main Methods:

• A longitudinal study using questionnaires administered at three time points during PACS implementation.
• The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology provided the framework, measuring key constructs like performance expectancy and social influence.

Main Results:

• Effort expectancy was crucial initially, shifting to performance expectancy after PACS use began.
• Social influence consistently predicted PACS acceptance throughout the study period.
• Variance in behavioral intention increased significantly over time, from .26 to .58.

Conclusions:

• Physician motivation for PACS adoption evolves from initial ease of use to perceived performance benefits.
• Perceived social support for PACS use is a critical and continuous factor in physician acceptance.