Improving researcher and healthcare provider friendliness in archiving and retrieval of patient health information in currently used health information systems in Palestinian hospitals رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

Background: Currently, governmental as well as private hospitals, clinics, community health and primary health care centers use some sort of electronic health information system (eHIS) to manage and archive health information. The general aim of this study was to obtain recommendations to improve the user friendliness in archiving and retrieval of patient health information in the currently used eHIS in Palestinian hospitals. Methods: In this study, in-depth qualitative interviews in an explorative design were used. The in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted in compliance with the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research checklist. The interviews were conducted with the help of an interview guide that was developed for this study. The interviewees were recruited from different hospitals/clinics that belonged to the governmental, private, and UNRWA sectors. The audio recorded interviews were transcribed and their contents were analyzed thematically. Results: Of the interviewees, more than half (66.7%) were female, 25 (69.4%) were younger than 30 years, 33 (91.7%) had bachelor’s degree, 6 (16.7%) were physicians, 32 (88.9%) were employed by private hospitals, 14 (38.9%) had an experience of 5 years and more, 11 (30.6%) used the eHIS more than 50 times weekly, and 14 (38.9%) spent more than 30 hours on the eHIS weekly. When the interviewees were asked to express their views and opinions on the eHIS, the majority of the interviewees (75.0%) thought that both the eHIS and the paper-based archiving system were inflexible. Additionally, 55.6% of the interviewees reported that the currently used eHIS did not fulfill their needs. The qualitative analysis of the interviews led to the emergence of multiple themes and subthemes. The themes include experiences of the interviewees with the eHIS, advantages of the eHIS compared to the paper-based system, disadvantages of the eHIS compared to the paper-based system, general recommendations to improve the current eHIS, advantages to VII facilitate data collection for the purpose of scientific research, recommendations to improve the accuracy, security, and flexibility of data archiving and retrieval, archive and save data more efficiently and effectively than a paper document, recommendations to improve the security and confidentiality level of the eHIS, recommendations to improve archiving of patient’s information, recommendations to protect the archived data from loss, and additional recommendations to improve the currently used eHIS. Conclusion: Healthcare professionals (physicians, nurses, and pharmacists) and medical records staff were generally not satisfied with the user friendliness and effectiveness of the currently used eHIS in Palestinian hospitals. Despite some disadvantages, the interviewees in this study stated that the eHIS provided advantages over the paper-based archiving systems. The interviewees provided recommendations that can be used to improve the user friendliness, effectiveness of the eHIS in facilitating archiving and retrieval of patients’ health information, collection of data for scientific research, accuracy, security, confidentiality, and flexibility of data archiving and retrieval. These findings might be informative and developers of eHIS to improve the currently used eHIS in Palestinian hospitals.