Using implementation science to develop and deploy an oncology electronic health record

Abstract

The management of oncology clinical processes involves the efficient management of data using electronic clinical records to effectively monitor and treat oncology patients. As the process of treating and monitoring cancer patients involves multiple stakeholders with differing perspectives, the implementation and deployment of oncology clinical registries represent a significant challenge. In this study, we address this complexity by employing a technique that helps translate implementation strategies into requirement identification methods, which are subsequently disseminated throughout the implementation and deployment phases of health information systems. We applied this technique to develop an electronic health record for the national cancer plan in Chile. The findings indicate that six implementation strategies are essential to addressing stakeholder needs, as well as three requirement identification techniques to describe the underlying problem. Furthermore, a study conducted with 27 stakeholders revealed that the perception of the oncology electronic clinical record has considerable acceptance in three critical functionalities related to the clinical process of oncology patient management. The use of implementation science strategies provides an alternative approach to understanding the underlying problem that stakeholders face when they require healthcare technologies.