A Study of Privacy and Security Concerns on Doctors' and Nurses' Behavioral Intentions to Use RFID in Hospitals

Radio frequency identification (RFID) is a useful technology that has myriad applications in retail, manufacturing, and healthcare settings. RFID can scan devices in their proximity and report the data to information systems. RFID in healthcare settings presents potential security and privacy concerns to the people and processes being tracked by the devices -- particularly healthcare workers including nurses and doctors. This research presents a theoretical model that will assess the effect of six independent variables: cognitive factors, perception of external control, privacy concerns regarding surveillance and RFID devices, subjective norms, existence of security policy, and persistence of data on three dependent variables, medical staff perceived usefulness of RFID, intention to use RFID, and actual use of RFID. The model is validated with an empirical study. The results suggest that cognitive factors, persistence of data captured through RFID, and the awareness of the existence of security policy influence medical staff members' use of RFID in hospitals.