Development and preliminary validation of a survey assessing technology innovation readiness in health care settings

Innovation readiness is crucial for transformative changes and enhanced performance in health care and depends on multiple factors including trust, training, and unit dynamics.

We develop and validate a survey measuring innovation readiness in health care organizations, focusing on dispositional, situational, and learned dimensions. We identify individual and unit factors that constitute innovation readiness.

We administered a survey assessing individual (e.g., autonomy at work) and unit (e.g., unit innovation climate) characteristics to 593 intensive care unit (ICU) clinicians across four ICUs (50.3% response). We used principal component analysis with varimax rotation to assess psychometrics and t tests to examine groups' differences.

Psychometric analysis detected seven factors; five multi-item factors, namely, trust in technology, concerns about technology, unit innovation climate, unit manager commitment to technology, and professional identity assessing innovation readiness; four factors with Cronbach's alpha values ranging from 0.79 to 0.90; and two individual single-item factors measuring unit human-technology interdependence and unit training on technology. Individual and unit factors related to technology innovation readiness differed by professional discipline, unit, and tenure.

The survey exhibited reliability in four ICUs in one hospital, suggesting that this 21-item tool can be used in similar settings. Variation in innovation readiness among professional disciplines and units highlights the importance of tailored approaches when introducing new technologies.

Managers can use this survey to gauge readiness and address individual and unit needs before implementing new technologies. Future research should validate this tool in diverse health care contexts to expand the literature on technology innovation readiness.