An examination of the driving forces behind ICT adoption in Australian rural and regional medical practices

The use of information and communication technology (ICT) within the Australian general practice sector has been widely researched and is well documented. This paper adds to the knowledge by using data collected from 122 regional medical practitioners to show that the driving forces behind the adoption and use of ICTs can be grouped according to three factors: improvement to business and medical care, external pressure exerted by other practices, patients and medical authorities and the need to communicate with other businesses as well as medical groups.