Gillings School Directory

Christopher M. Shea, PhD

Dr. Christopher M. Shea

Christopher M. Shea, PhD

Associate Professor
Department of Health Policy and Management
Adjunct Associate Professor
Social Medicine
  • 1104F McGavran-Greenberg Hall
  • CB# 7411
  • Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7411

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.

Honors and Awards

Distinguished Poster Award

2013, 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

Recent News