Efficiency paradox: Introducing secure messaging in outpatient care

Maura Soekijad

Social Science & Medicine, 2025, vol. 365, issue C

Abstract: This study explores the uptake of secure messaging technology and the influence it has on the work of three interconnected occupational roles. It was executed in an outpatient clinic, where the administrative staff adopted the new secure messaging tool, expecting it to improve efficiency. The study found that the efficiency-enhancing tool over time introduced new inefficiencies into the work of administrative assistants, nurses, and physicians, and this phenomenon is noted as the efficiency paradox, which is examined and explained throughout the study. This research contributes to health information technology and role reconfiguration literature by highlighting the crucial role of emotions in this emergent and relational process and discussing the implications of that in the context of patient-provider communication.

Keywords: Efficiency paradox; Emotions; Patient-provider communication; Patient portals; Qualitative; Work reconfiguration; Secure messaging (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117578

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