Don't Forget the Users When Implementing Systems in Health!

The operating theatre management system (OTMS) was selected by a working party comprised of key stakeholders and clinical representatives from major metropolitan teaching hospitals in South Australia. The Whole of Health project was funded and facilitated by the South Australian Health Commission in cooperation with healthsite and vendor project teams. In essence, the project progressed as projects do. However, a fundamental issue identified by this project team was the critical nature of managing the people, or potential users of the application. This paper discusses some of the pitfalls experienced at the healthsite and how best to avoid them in the future.