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Over the past few decades, technology has impacted our lives significantly. Most of this has been in our personal space through the development of computing, devices, and social platforms. However, we have also seen the “intrusion” of technology into our workspace.
While we embrace some of this technological intrusion, we also resist or rebel against other components. Why have we not seen more successful implementation of information technology in health care? While many theories have been hypothesised, there can be no argument that none have been truly effective. As a result, the health care field is becoming used to “not‐so‐effective” systems. This is primarily related to a fragmented system and also a slow and often bureaucratic environment. As a result, health care is being identified as a laggard with respect to technological advancement.
The adoption of technological advancements, in any industry, varies for a number of reasons and happens along a fairly predictable continuum. When a new technology emerges, there will be people who adopt it at the earliest stages (innovators), early adopters, those in the early majority, those in the late majority, and laggards who resist the adoption altogether. Health care tends to fall in the latter.
In general, the reasons for these different rates of adoption are varied. Some see cost as a prohibitive factor, some a lack of trust. Others are simply comfortable with their current way of doing things and do not seek to change. The result is that there is a lack of coordination of technology adoption across health care.
Another common example is systems that are not designed to communicate with one another, making it difficult for providers using different technological platforms to share information or transfer data, a very common situation in health care.
The health care industry has much to gain by intentionally and intelligently adopting technological practices that can improve outcomes. A well‐designed plan of action with the resources in place to make it a success must be crucial components of any technological progress in the health care industry.
When it comes to implementing new technology, the health care industry lags behind every other industry sector. It is a well‐known fact that the industry appears to resist change, even when those changes stand to significantly benefit patients.
In our personal world, where we are constantly engaging with smart devices, often, our health care workplace still uses archaic communication methods such as pagers and faxes. While we may have access to state‐of‐the art drugs and treatments, often, there is no access to state‐of–the‐art technology.
Can we, the wound care world, lead the way? Can we drive health care to catch up and embrace the technological platforms available to us. As we have had to lead the way in the development of a clinical specialty, it might be opportunistic to tie the two elements together. We have to be innovators anyhow, so why not lead the way including with technology.
Can the acceptance of technology in our clinical area, and the drive to join it with existing technological approaches (eg, wound record as part of electronic health record), drive change organisationally that allows the recognition of wound care within the broader environment. Who knows, but it is worth a try for the benefit of clinicians and patients alike.