Understanding ICT as Innovation in Healthcare Organizations

I have been studying some issues related with Innovation and with Telemedicine (if you follow the links you can see some references about them). In my case the key issue of both items is Information and Communication Technologies. To tackle the complex of these three concepts (Innovation, Telemedicine and ICT) I am following the Conceptual Model proposed by Greenhalgh T, Robert G, Macfarlane F, Bate P, Kyriakidou O (2004) Diffusion of innovations in service organizations: systematic review and recommendations. Milbank Q 82(4):581–629

Abstract

This article summarizes an extensive literature review addressing the question, How can we spread and sustain innovations in health service delivery and organization? It considers both content (defining and measuring the diffusion of innovation in organizations) and process (reviewing the literature in a systematic and reproducible way). This article discusses (1) a parsimonious and evidence-based model for considering the diffusion of innovations in health service organizations, (2) clear knowledge gaps where further research should be focused, and (3) a robust and transferable methodology for systematically reviewing health service policy and management. Both the model and the method should be tested more widely in a range of contexts.

In this article there is a very interesting figure (Figure 3. Conceptual Model for Considering the Determinants of Diffusion, Dissemination, and Implementation of Innovations in Health Service Delivery and Organization, Based on a Systematic Review of Empirical Research Studies) that shows the unifying conceptual model that they derived from their synthesis of theoretical and empirical findings

This conceptual model helps me to understand the relationship among Innovation, Telemedicine and ICT.