Achieving change and altering behaviour through direct doctor use of a hospital information system for order communications.

Direct use of hospital information systems, and particularly of order communications systems by doctors, is central to the anticipated benefits from hospital information systems in Australia and other countries. There is an expectation that doctors will accept this technology and that the benefits will flow from their use. Concord Repatriation General Hospital in Sydney is one of very few hospitals in the world where doctors directly use a hospital information system to access patient information, place orders for diagnostic services and retrieve results. This paper reports on research which explored the nature of the direct doctor use of the hospital information system at Concord Hospital, and the changing attitudes of the doctors there.