The impact of healthcare informatics competencies on dynamic capabilities: A multilevel study of paramedic services

Objectives Despite the importance placed on technology in healthcare, there is a lack of studies that link technology-related skillsets of healthcare professionals to the ability of an organization to innovate. This research investigates the role of Healthcare Informatics Competencies (HICs) of front-line healthcare workers for the ability of their healthcare organizations to innovate. This research employs a multilevel perspective, nesting paramedics within their respective services, and measuring the impact of group-level HICs on Dynamic Capabilities. Methods Data from Canadian paramedic services (n = 43) and paramedics (n = 502) was analyzed. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to detect factors from the competency models, which were then aggregated to the group level. Partial Least Squares (PLS) was used to measure the impact of group-level competency on organization-level dynamic capabilities, specifically sensing, learning, integrating and coordinating capabilities. Results Three factors emerged from the paramedic competency data, labeled “Technology Application Competencies” (TAC), “Information Processing Competencies” (IPC), and “Understanding of the Workings of Technology” (UWT). At the group-level, TAC significantly impacted learning, integrating and coordinating capabilities, and UWT impacted sensing and coordinating capabilities. Conclusions Results suggest that paramedics who possess an understanding of technology and where it can be applied in a paramedicine context contribute to the innovativeness of their paramedic services. This research underlines the importance of HICs as an organizational resource in both paramedicine and healthcare, and draws attention to their importance to policy makers. This study also advances the use of HICs as part of an evidence-based approach to studying technology adoption in healthcare.