Gillings School Directory
Christopher M. Shea, PhD
Christopher M. Shea, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Health Policy and Management
Adjunct Associate Professor
Social Medicine
Dr. Shea's training is in the fields of organizational behavior and health informatics. His research focuses on evaluating innovations within health organizations, particularly innovations supported by information technology for the purpose of improving care quality. Examples of such innovations include electronic health record (EHR) modules to improve provider-patient communication; EHR meaningful use objectives for improving care coordination and patient-and-family engagement; and virtual tumor boards to engage clinicians in multidisciplinary discussions of complex cancer cases.
His research has employed both quantitative and qualitative methods. For example, Dr. Shea has used latent class analysis to develop a taxonomy of EHR sophistication in U.S. hospitals. Regarding qualitative methods, he has experience conducting interviews with clinicians and staff in health care organizations.
Dr. Shea's research also has involved developing valid, reliable, and pragmatic survey measures of health organization variables that historically have been difficult to measure. For example, he led development of a measure of “organizational readiness for change,” which has been categorized as “highly accessed” by the journal Implementation Science.
Christopher Shea in the Gillings news
- UNC researchers examine better treatment delivery options as opioid use disorders continue to increase
- What is an innovation champion — and how can we support them?
- To reduce food waste, changes in date labeling, marketing and consumer behavior are needed
- Emergency department crowding is a hospital-wide problem
Honors and Awards
Distinguished Poster Award2013, American Medical Informatics Association
Research Activities
- Adoption and Implementation of Innovations
- Health Informatics
- Organizational Behavior and Change
- Quality Improvement
- Health Care Organization and Delivery
- Business Writing
Key Publications
Evaluation of Stage 3 Meaningful Use Objectives: North Carolina and Tennessee - Final Report. Wald JS, Haque S, Treiman K, et al. (2015). Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
Stage 1 of the meaningful use incentive program for electronic health records: a study of readiness for change in ambulatory practice settings in one integrated delivery system. Shea, CM; Reiter, KL; Weaver, MA; McIntyre, M; Mose, J; Thornhill, J; Malone, R; Weiner, BJ. (2014). , 14:119. (2014). BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. DOI:10.1186/s12911-014-0119-1, 14(119).
A method to determine the impact of patient-centered care interventions in primary care. Daaleman, TP; Shea, CM; Halladay, J; Reed, DA. (2014). Patient Education and Counseling, 97(3), 327-331.
Organizational readiness for implementing change: a psychometric assessment of a new measure. Shea, CM; Jacobs, SR; Esserman, DA; Bruce, K; Weiner, BJ. (2014). Implementation ScienceDOI:10.1186/1748-5908-9-7., 20(7).
Education
PhD, Public Administration, North Carolina State University, 2008
MPA, Public Administration, North Carolina State University, 2004
MA, English, West Virginia University, 1998
BBA, Finance and English, James Madison University, 1995
