A Socio-Technical Approach to Healthcare Technology Development and Implementation
Start date: July 2021
Expected end date: September 2025
This project is based at The Australian National University (ANU) and Amir has a fully funded scholarship via ANU. Amir is a visiting PhD Researcher with the Centre from October 2023.
The success of healthcare technologies depends on more than just their technical capabilities. Effective integration requires a deep understanding of how these systems fit into the everyday experiences of stakeholders—clinicians, administrators, and patients—while supporting existing workflows and institutional structures. Poorly designed technologies create friction, increase cognitive load, and disrupt critical processes. This research takes a human-centered approach to understanding the sociotechnical factors that determine whether a technology is accepted, seamlessly adopted, and ultimately beneficial in real-world healthcare settings.
This project identifies the barriers, enablers, and stakeholder perspectives shaping technology adoption to inform the development and implementation of healthcare technologies and generate practical recommendations for technology designers, aiming to create safe healthcare solutions.
Expected Outcomes:
- Understanding Key Sociotechnical Factors: Identifying barriers and enablers that influence the acceptance and implementation of healthcare technologies.
- Improved Human-Technology Interaction: Developing insights into how technologies can be designed to better fit existing healthcare workflows and user needs.
- Practical Design and Implementation Guidelines: Providing actionable recommendations for developers to create more effective and context-aware healthcare technologies.
Project Team Details
- Primary PhD Supervisor: Associate Professor Elizabeth Williams (ANU)
- Co-Supervisors:
- Professor Damith Herath (University of Canberra)
- Professor Glenda Caldwell (QUT)
Affiliations
- Australian National University (School of Cybernetics)
- Australian Cobotics Centre (Program 3: Designing Socio-technical Robotic Systems)
Social Media/Professional Links
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amir-asadi7/
Associated Australian Cobotics Centre Researchers