Elske Ammenwerth1, Frauke Ehlers, Bernhard Hirsch, Gordon Gratl. 1. Institute for Health Information Systems, UMIT, University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology, Hall in Tyrol, Austria. elske.ammenwerth@umit.at
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Hospital information systems (HIS) are a substantial quality and cost factor for hospitals. Systematic monitoring of HIS quality is an important task; however, this task is often seen to be insufficiently supported. To support systematic HIS monitoring, we developed HIS-Monitor, comprising about 107 questions, focusing on how a hospital information system does efficiently support clinical and administrative tasks. METHODS: The structure of HIS-Monitor consists of a matrix, crossing HIS quality criteria on one axis with a list of process steps within patient care on the other axis. HIS-Monitor was developed based on several pretests and was now tested in a larger feasibility study with 102 participants. RESULTS: HIS-Monitor intends to describe strengths and weaknesses of information processing in a hospital. Results of the feasibility study show that HIS-Monitor was able to highlight certain HIS problems such as insufficiently supported cross-departmental communication, legibility of drug orders and other paper-based documents, and overall time needed for documentation. We discuss feasibility of HIS-Monitor and the reliability and validity of the results. CONCLUSIONS: Further refinement and more formal validation of HIS-Monitor are planned.
OBJECTIVES: Hospital information systems (HIS) are a substantial quality and cost factor for hospitals. Systematic monitoring of HIS quality is an important task; however, this task is often seen to be insufficiently supported. To support systematic HIS monitoring, we developed HIS-Monitor, comprising about 107 questions, focusing on how a hospital information system does efficiently support clinical and administrative tasks. METHODS: The structure of HIS-Monitor consists of a matrix, crossing HIS quality criteria on one axis with a list of process steps within patient care on the other axis. HIS-Monitor was developed based on several pretests and was now tested in a larger feasibility study with 102 participants. RESULTS: HIS-Monitor intends to describe strengths and weaknesses of information processing in a hospital. Results of the feasibility study show that HIS-Monitor was able to highlight certain HIS problems such as insufficiently supported cross-departmental communication, legibility of drug orders and other paper-based documents, and overall time needed for documentation. We discuss feasibility of HIS-Monitor and the reliability and validity of the results. CONCLUSIONS: Further refinement and more formal validation of HIS-Monitor are planned.
Authors: Gillian Strudwick; Richard G Booth; Ragnhildur I Bjarnadottir; Sarah Collins; Rani Srivastava Journal: BMJ Open Date: 2017-10-12 Impact factor: 2.692