As a nurse, you have a significant impact on the success or failure of EHR adoption. When addressing the challenges of changing to a drastically different way of doing things, nurses must understand their role as change agents and how they can influence others.

Everett Rogers, a pioneer in the field of innovation diffusion, identified five characteristics that influence individual attitudes toward adopting new technology (2003). Individuals, he hypothesized, are concerned with:

Relative advantage: The person who adopts the new innovation must see how it will be superior to the old way of doing things.
Compatibility with existing values and practices: The adopter must understand how the new innovation fits into existing practices.
Simplicity: The adopter must believe that he or she can easily master the new technology; the more difficult the new system appears to be to learn, the greater the resistance that will occur.
Trialability: The adopter should be able to “play around” with the new technology and learn about its capabilities.
Observable outcomes: The adopter must be able to demonstrate that the proposed innovation has been successful in other contexts.
Please keep in mind that you are not required to buy Rogers’ book or research his list of five qualities further. This information is sufficient to complete this Assignment. The complete reference for Rogers’ work is provided on this page below the due date.
You will play the role of a nurse facilitator in a small hospital in upstate New York for this Assignment. You were part of a team that was preparing for the rollout of a new electronic health records system. The program that will be used has been decided, and you are now in charge of preparing the nurses for the new system. Nurses have expressed an undercurrent of resistance, and you must address their concerns. You have a meeting with the nurses scheduled one week before the training on the new EHR system. Consider how you can use Rogers’ (2003) five qualities to help prepare nurses for the upcoming implementation.

to get ready

This week, review the Learning Resources about successful EHR implementations.
Consider how you would present the new EHR system to the nurses in order to gain their support.
Consider the five qualities outlined by Rogers. How would addressing each of these issues improve the chances of success?
By Week 6’s seventh day
Create a 3- to 5-page paper that includes the following information:

Outline how you would approach the meeting with the nurses using Rogers’ (2003) theory as a foundation. Include how you would respond to resistance as well as the types of information or activities you could provide to address each area.
Examine nurses’ role as change agents in facilitating the adoption of new technology.