Building resilient hospital information technology services through organizational learning: Lessons in CIO leadership during an international systemic crisis in the United States and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic was an international systemic crisis which required an unprecedented response to quickly drive the digital transformation of hospitals and health care systems to support high quality health care while adhering to contagion management protocols. OBJECTIVE: To identify and assess the best practices during the COVID-19 pandemic by Chief Information Officers (CIOs) about how to build resilient healthcare IT (HIT) to improve pandemic preparedness and response across global settings and to develop recommendations for future pandemics. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative, interview-based study to sample CIOs in hospitals. We interviewed 16 CIOs from hospitals and health systems in the United States and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. We used in-depth interviews to capture their perspectives of the preparedness of hospitals’ information technology departments for the pandemic and how they lead their IT department out of the pandemic. RESULTS: Results showed that healthcare CIOs were ambidextrous IT leaders who built resilient HIT by rapidly improving existing digital business practices and creating innovative IT solutions. Ambidextrous IT leadership involved exploiting existing IT resources as well as exploring and innovating for continuous growth. IT resiliency focused on four inter-related capabilities: ambidextrous leadership, governance, innovation and learning, and HIT infrastructure. CONCLUSIONS: We propose conceptual frameworks to guide the development of healthcare IT resilience and highlight the importance of organizational learning as an integral component of HIT resiliency.