Al Technology Implementation into the Daily Workflow in Care Organizations: The Role of Human Resource Management

Recent advances in Artificial Intelligence influence work across different sectors, particularly healthcare. The healthcare sector faces various challenges: (1) growing demand for sustainable care due to the aging population and upsurge in life-threatening diseases, such as cancer, (2) increase in health care professionals’ overload and burnout, (3) shortage and turnover of health care professionals, and (4) the necessity to provide quality and cost-efficient care. Within this context, AI-technologies are being considered important tools to improve the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of care by automating tasks and providing support for critical medical decisions.

Successful implementation of AI-technologies and the realization of their predicted improvements depend on their use by health care professionals and their integration into the clinical workflow, however, their actual impact on health care professionals’ roles and responsibilities requires more investigation from a Human Resource Management (HRM) perspective. HRM can support health organizations by helping address some of the implementation challenges associated with AI-technologies, including issues of trust, workload changes, or changes in professional relationships. Therefore, this project aims to investigate how the HRM function supports the implementation of AI-technologies into the workflow in care organizations.

Project objectives

The project has four objectives:

• investigate the role of the HRM function during AI-technology implementation in care organizations;
• examine the changes in health care professionals’ workflow resulting from integrating AI-technologies;
• explore the implications of these changes for health care professionals and other key stakeholders;
• develop a framework for the future role of the HRM function in supporting integration of AI-technologies.

Potential impact

The envisioned contribution of the proposed research is threefold.

First, the adoption of an HRM perspective to the study of AI implementation, alongside expertise and insights from data science, medicine, communication science, implementation science and law, will provide insight into the critical role that HRM can play in research and collaboration on AI within healthcare.

Second, this research will be the basis for evoking follow-up projects. In future projects, the plan is to involve colleagues from other countries and share know-how on AI implementation in the healthcare sector. Such a cross-country collaboration would allow us to investigate this important topic from a cross-cultural perspective and to consider differences in the instutional, organizational, and legal environments in the implementation and impact of AI on the work of health care professionals.

Third, the project envisions that the framework can also be used in practice and also beyond the healthcare sector. Other sectors too are in the transition to implement more AI tools, and a scoping review being conducted by members of the research team is showing that the role of the HRM function during digital transformation is not well explored and investigated yet.

Duration

The project will run for one year starting from July 2023 onwards.

Multidisciplinary project team

Lead applicant Dr. Frederike Scholz and Dr. Tina Sahakian of the Department of Human Resource Studies with expertise in HRM and Digital Transformation will be leading the project. Dr. Frederike Scholz, will address the impact of new technology on employees from a diversity/inclusion and identity perspective, whereas Dr. Tina Sahakian will examine the impact of managerial decision-making regarding AI implementation on health care professionals.

The expertise of colleagues from Tilburg Law School and the Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences will be critical for investigating the relational, ethical, and legal implications of changes in health care professionals’ workflow resulting from AI implementation. Specifically, Mr. dr. Colette Cuijpers, Prof. dr. Ton Wilthagen and Dr. mr. Steven Jellinghaus of the Tilburg Law School will contribute their expertise on the legal and ethical implications of digital technologies for health care professionals and care organizations. On top of that, Prof. dr. Marjolijn Antheunis and Dr. Chris van der Lee of the Department of Communication and Cognition, will address the perspective of the use of AI in interpersonal communication with health care professionals. 

The expertise of Esther de Vries, Professor at Tilburg University & Coordinator Data Science at Jeroen Bosch Hospital (JBZ), is critical for understanding the changes in the care workflow in healthcare organizations. The expertise of Prof. dr. Eveline Wouters, lector Health Innovations & Technology at Fontys Paramedisch, will be necessary for investigating human implementation issues among health care professionals. Fontys University of Applied Sciences has specific expertise in implementation of technology in health care practice considering the individual, organizational, legal, and financial factors for sustainable use.

This project is funded by Tilburg University’s Digital Sciences for Society program: