Do Healthcare Workers Need Cognitive Computing Technologies? A Qualitative Study Involving IBM Watson and Dutch Professionals

Authors

Roxanne Vroegindeweij, Erasmus UniversityFollow
Arthur Carvalho, Miami University - OxfordFollow

Abstract

The healthcare ecosystem continually produces huge volumes of structured and unstructured data. Cognitive computing, a new computing paradigm, promises to effectively help healthcare researchers and practitioners to derive precious information from data. Arguably, the most famous cognitive computing system is called IBM Watson, which has been adapted to different domains, including healthcare. In this paper, we investigate whether there is a natural demand for cognitive computing systems coming from healthcare workers. Specifically, using the technology acceptance model to guide our efforts, we study different perceptions from healthcare professionals from the Netherlands regarding IBM Watson. The results from our interviews show that virtually all the perceptions are very negative. We list several reasons underlying these perceptions alongside potential ways of changing them. We believe our results are of great value to health information technology professionals trying to introduce a potentially groundbreaking product and to organizations that are contemplating investing in those technologies.

Recommended Citation

Vroegindeweij, Roxanne and Carvalho, Arthur (2019) "Do Healthcare Workers Need Cognitive Computing Technologies? A Qualitative Study Involving IBM Watson and Dutch Professionals," Journal of the Midwest Association for Information Systems (JMWAIS): Vol. 2019: Iss. 1, Article 4.
DOI: 10.17705/3jmwa.000047
Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/jmwais/vol2019/iss1/4

DOI

10.17705/3jmwa.000047