Pushing the Digital Transformation Forward in Times of Pandemics: Insights from a Hospital for Virtual Collaboration

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has not only changed the private life of millions but significantly affected the collaboration of medical specialists throughout healthcare Hospitals make changes to their regular operations to slow the spread of the virus while ensuring the treatment of emergency patients These substantial changes affect the typical work setting for clinicians and requires the implementation of organizational arrangements OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aim at increasing our understanding of how digital transformation (DT) is pushing virtual collaboration among clinicians in hospitals forward in times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic METHODS: We present the lessons learned from an exploratory case study in which we observed the introduction of an IT-system for enhancing collaboration among clinicians in a German hospital The results are based on 16 semi-structured interviews with physicians from various departments and disciplines which are further generalized for healthcare RESULTS: Three key lessons and recommendations explain how DT ensures goal-driven collaboration among clinicians First, we found that a disruptive change requires aligning the mindset of stakeholders Second, IT enabled collaboration presupposes behavioral rules that must be obeyed Third, transforming antiquated processes demands a suitable technological infrastructure CONCLUSIONS: DT is pushed forward by the COVID-19 pandemic However, the rapid introduction of IT-enabled collaboration reveals grievances concerning the digital dissemination of medical information along the patient treatment path To avoid being caught unprepared by future crises, DT must be further driven to ensure collaboration and requires the diagnostic and therapeutic process to be opened to disruptive strategies CLINICALTRIAL: None