As new information and communication technologies
(ICTs) are being applied in healthcare, the most obvious
and seemingly the only questions to ask would be if they
are clinically effective and if they deliver positive outcomes
for patients. In the medical tradition, outcomes are usually
assessed in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) through
clear and well-understood criteria of safety and clinical
effectiveness. These seem to be suitable and fully adequate
for evaluating drugs. (Although, of course, drug prescribing
is more complex and includes, among others, economic considerations.)
But are these criteria useful or sufficient when applied
to the evaluation of ICTs in healthcare? In this paper
we argue that they are not. ICT-related applications are
complex and diverse and require a different and more encompassing
approach to evaluation.