Assessing users' satisfaction through perception of usefulness and ease of use in the daily interaction with a hospital information system.

The present study deals with the assessment of the subjective perception of the clinical core of the hospital information system (HIS) we are building. This HIS is not in use on a voluntary basis, but physicians and nurses use it for all the aspects of their inpatient care that have been informatized. Two questionnaires, aimed at the assessment of users perceived usefulness and ease of use of information technology, were utilized to: obtain feedback of the actual users' satisfaction as a predictive factor for the future life of the system, assess the real influence of the often-mentioned problems of age and unfamiliarity with computers of potential users, learn about the aspects which would enhance users' acceptance. The analysis of answers to the questionnaires has indicated a substantially positive perception of the system in terms of both usefulness and ease of use. This constitutes a good reason to keep on investing in the project. Even though this study has the intrinsic limit of the small dimension of the inquired population (53 users, equivalent to 98% of the personnel of the assessed clinical units), our data confirm the inconsistency of the relationship between perception of usefulness and age, and show "unfamiliarity with computers" as commonplace. On the other hand, it seems that the keystone for usefulness perception is the knowledge the users have of the system. An effort by the technical personnel in establishing a broader collaboration with the users, and in providing more exhaustive training and support may well be worthwhile.