Management of health care technology literature (1979-1997): a multidimensional introspection

This work takes an introspective look at the trends, patterns and directions taken by the researchers in the field of management of health care technology (MHT) during the period 1979-1997. A total of 333 publications are classified in six distinct categories. The major findings of this study include the following: (1) a very substantial number (55%) of researchers employed the "incremental" or ripple strategy as a primary strategy of research; (2) 69.7% of all publications were untested theory papers. While 38.1% of the publications claimed application status, only 26% were found rooted in the real world; (3) improvement in cost performance was the most pursued objective-31.5% of the publications; (4) 28.5% of the publications used application and evaluation of information systems as the dominant MHT application setting; (5) process, technology and equipment were the preferred choice of operations strategy reflected in 33.9% articles; and (6) 45.6% of all publications led the hospital system category by choosing fiscal management as their research area. The authors hope that the findings of this work will provide useful insights into the anatomy of MHT publications and motivate further research on where the field is going and what course corrections are needed, if any, beyond those that have been proposed here.