Fit Between Individuals, Tasks, Technology, and Environment (FITTE) Framework: A Proposed Extension of FITT to Evaluate and Optimise Health Information Technology Use

Evaluating and optimising 'fit' between technology and clinical work is critical to ensure the intended benefits of technology implementations are achieved. Using a mixed method approach (structured observation, interviews, field notes) we collected data regarding users, tasks, technology, and factors impeding technology use from a sample of 38 clinicians on two wards at an Australian hospital. We used the FITT framework to assess the relationships between users, tasks, and technology. Our findings showed that even when adequate fit between users, tasks, and technology was attained additional factors related to the environment (including the temporal rhythms of a ward, infection control rooms, or space limitations) ultimately affected technology use. Thus, we propose the fit between individuals, task, technology and environment (FITTE) framework as a means to evaluate and optimise technology use by explicating the relationships between users, tasks, technology, and the environment in which they operate.