The sociology of change

Abstract

Sociology is defined as the study of the origin, development, organization, and functioning of human society. Implementing a new electronic medical record is a change management project with a technology component and requires an understanding and appreciation of the history, organizational structure, and culture of the practice as well as an understanding and appreciation of how people function within a given organization. Practices that embrace this philosophy and approach to implementation are successful and see their practices positively transform as a result of using health information technology. This article describes an approach to technology projects that improves success.