Cited by 1,011Electronic Health Records SystemsHealth Policy Implementation ScienceTelemedicine and Telehealth Implementation

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 62 of the 64 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 148 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

Factors that influence the implementation of e-health: a systematic review of systematic reviews (an update)

Open access
Ross, Jamie, Stevenson, Fiona, Lau, Rosa, Murray, Elizabeth·2016·Implementation Science

Abstract

BACKGROUND: There is a significant potential for e-health to deliver cost-effective, quality health care, and spending on e-health systems by governments and healthcare systems is increasing worldwide. However, there remains a tension between the use of e-health in this way and implementation. Furthermore, the large body of reviews in the e-health implementation field, often based on one particular technology, setting or health condition make it difficult to access a comprehensive and comprehensible summary of available evidence to help plan and undertake implementation. This review provides an update and re-analysis of a systematic review of the e-health implementation literature culminating in a set of accessible and usable recommendations for anyone involved or interested in the implementation of e-health. METHODS: MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO and The Cochrane Library were searched for studies published between 2009 and 2014. Studies were included if they were systematic reviews of the implementation of e-health. Data from included studies were synthesised using the principles of meta-ethnography, and categorisation of the data was informed by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). RESULTS: Forty-four reviews mainly from North America and Europe were included. A range of e-health technologies including electronic medical records and clinical decision support systems were represented. Healthcare settings included primary care, secondary care and home care. Factors important for implementation were identified at the levels of the following: the individual e-health technology, the outer setting, the inner setting and the individual health professionals as well as the process of implementation. CONCLUSION: This systematic review of reviews provides a synthesis of the literature that both acknowledges the multi-level complexity of e-health implementation and provides an accessible and useful guide for those planning implementation. New interpretations of a large amount of data across e-health systems and healthcare settings have been generated and synthesised into a set of useable recommendations for practice. This review provides a further empirical test of the CFIR and identifies areas where additional research is necessary. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO, CRD42015017661.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This updated systematic review of reviews synthesises 44 reviews on e-health implementation and finds that implementation is multi-level, involving the technology, outer setting, inner setting, individual health professionals, and implementation process. The findings are well described by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR), with no data that could not be coded to its constructs.

Key findings

  • From 2,812 unique citations, 118 full papers were assessed and 44 reviews published between 2003 and 2014 were included; 28 focused on one e-health domain, 16 covered multiple domains, 12 focused on one healthcare setting, and 21 covered two or more settings.
  • Factors important for implementation were identified at the levels of the individual e-health technology, outer setting, inner setting, individual health professionals, and implementation process; no single factor was identified as the key barrier or facilitator.
  • Cost was reported as an important implementation factor by the majority of studies across all e-health domains, and workflow compatibility/fit was discussed by the majority of studies.
  • No data could not be coded to a CFIR construct; areas with no supporting data included peer pressure, tension for change, relative priority, learning climate, external change agents, and executing.

Methods

  • Systematic review of reviews; MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and The Cochrane Library were searched, replicating the original review’s strategy, covering literature published between 1995 and 2014.
  • Included studies were systematic reviews, narrative reviews, qualitative meta-syntheses, or meta-ethnographies of e-health implementation; data were extracted and synthesised using principles of meta-ethnography with CFIR as the organising framework.
  • Methodological quality was described using ENTREQ guidelines but studies were not excluded based on quality assessment.

Limitations

  • The paper states that systematic reviews and included studies may be subject to publication bias; reviews of reviews have a time-lag; the review depended on interpretations provided by authors of included reviews; it was often unclear whether data came from primary studies or review authors’ interpretations; many reviews did not specify whether data came from clinicians, nurses, other staff, or multidisciplinary teams; and synthesis was limited by what previous reviewers included, so unaddressed CFIR areas may be unimportant or merely unaddressed.
  • Evident from the text: many included reviews were methodologically poor against ENTREQ, including three that did not give databases searched, seven that searched only one database or source, sixteen that did not specify inclusion/exclusion criteria, and five that did not detail the number of primary studies included.

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Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1186/s13012-016-0510-7

Cites

62 of 62 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Figures

Fig. 1 PRISMA flow diagram of study selection
Fig. 1 PRISMA flow diagram of study selectionCC BY · PubMed Central

Verification

Claims the paper makes

81 Not checked yet · 21 Own result · 17 Own method · 11 Own interpretation · 8 No basis given

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  • Probably not a substantial claim. 46
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 46
73 of 73
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The methodological limitations of the included reviews do not prevent a valid synthesis of their findings.

    “When judged against the ENTREQ statement [11], many studies were methodologically poor.”
    “Because the aim was to describe and synthesise a body of qualitative literature and not determine an effect size, studies were not excluded based on this assessment.”
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Metadata

Authors
Ross, J., Stevenson, F., Lau, R., & Murray, E.
Affiliations
University College London (GB)
Corresponding author
Ross, Jamie
Venue
Implementation Science
Published
2016-10-26
Volume
11
Issue
1
Pages
146-146
ISSN
1748-5908 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2537576125
Cited by
1,011
References
64
Citations by year
2026: 67 · 2025: 116 · 2024: 167 · 2023: 127 · 2022: 134 · 2021: 147 · 2020: 131 · 2019: 61 · 2018: 49 · 2017: 11
FWCI
8.10
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Implementation Science (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Funders
Programme Grants for Applied Research (RP-PG-0609-10135)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Electronic Health Records Systems
  • Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Policy Implementation Science
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation
Keywords
eHealth implementation, implementation barriers and facilitators, Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, electronic health records, clinical decision support systems, healthcare workers, primary care, secondary care, home care, implementation guidelines
MeSH terms
Clinical Decision-Making, Aptitude, Costs and Cost Analysis, Diffusion of Innovation, Health Personnel, Health Planning, Health Policy, Humans, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Review Literature as Topic, Systems Analysis, Telemedicine, Biomedical Technology, Translational Research, Biomedical, Electronic Health Records

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