Implementation of Mobile Computing in Canadian Homecare Programs: Project Risk Management and its Influence on Project Success

Mobile computing is one of a growing number of information technologies applied in the context of homecare services. While home telemonitoring enables clinical interventions at a distance, mobile computing allows clinicians to integrate the care process on site at the patient’s home. As digital homecare is a fairly recent phenomenon and our understanding of the challenges and barriers associated with its implementation is still in its infancy, we used a clinical information system risk analysis framework to investigate how project risk management of mobile computing implementations was applied and how it shaped a project’s outcome. We followed the ongoing development and implementation of a mobile computing project in real time at nine homecare program sites in the Province of Québec, Canada. We analyzed each site’s implementation strategy, i.e., the pre-existing and emergent risks, the risk mitigation strategies aimed at eliminating the hindering factors and at favoring successful outcomes at each site. In studying the relations between the various elements (implementation strategy, risk occurrence, and level of success), we were able to draw a series of lessons to help decrease failures and further the success of mobile computing in homecare programs.