Operational problems of Haniwa net as a form of social capital: interdependence between human networks of physicians and information networks.

In August 2009, Miyazaki Health and Welfare Network (Haniwa Net, hereafter referred to as "the Net"), centrally led by University of Miyazaki Hospital (UMH), adopted a center hospital-based system offering a unilateral linkage that enables the viewing of UMH's medical records through a web-based browser (electronic medical records (EMR)). By the end of December 2010, the network had developed into a system of 79 collaborating physicians from within the prefecture. Beginning in August 2010, physicians in 12 medical institutions were visited and asked to speak freely on the operational issues concerning the Net. Recordings and written accounts were coded using the text analysis software MAXQDA 10 to understand the actual state of operations. Analysis of calculations of Kendall's rank correlation confirmed that the interdependency between human networks and information networks is significant. At the same time, while the negative opinions concerning the functions of the Net were somewhat conspicuous, the results showed a correlation between requests and proposals for operational improvements of the Net, clearly indicating the need for a more user-friendly system and a better viewer.