Abstract
The perception of risk exposure among design team members during the early phases
of information system development projects can provide valuable strategic information
for clinical organizations. To develop a typology of perceived risks during information
system development projects in health care, interviews were performed with key team
members from a specialist clinic, primary health care, and an informatics research
group, during the requirements specification. Phenomenological data analysis and secondary
integration of the results in available theories were performed. System objectives,
the user requirements definition procedure, the communication pattern between design
team members and project management were found to be perceived as the main risk areas.
In the secondary analysis, the technical factors, identified as preventing a maximization
of the use of the resources, were lack of informatics knowledge among economic decision
makers and differences between customers and suppliers regarding their views on the
nature of system design. During the implementation of a given strategy, decision makers
may consider the requests of their own sponsors in the first place and maximize the
use ofthe project resources in the second place. Informatics knowledge plays a key
role in risk perception during the development of an information system in health
care. Political considerations by team members are important to take into regard,
since these may influence technical and economic decisions.
Keywords
Risk Perception - Health-Care Organizations - Phenomenological Analysis - Informatics
Knowledge - Political Considerations - Technical and Economic Factors
