Assessing the Ability of Hospital Information Systems Regarding the General Requirements in Iran

Mirabootalebi N¹* (MSc), Kamalzadeh H² (PhD), Mobaraki H³ (PhD), Azad M⁴ (BSc)

¹ Health Information Management Research Center, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran

² Department of Information Systems, Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Bandar Abbas, Iran

³ Department of Management, Faculty of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences;

Human Resources and Logistics Office, Tehran, Iran

⁴ Department of Statistics, Mother and Child Welfare Research Center, Para-Medicine School,

Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Original Article

Received: 11 Apr 2015, Accepted: 25 June 2015

Abstract

Introduction: Hospital information system is an information technology tool that covers all diagnostic, therapeutic, administrative, financial and research functions and operations. This study aimed to assess the ability of various hospital information systems in Iran based on the general requirements of the country.

Methods: This study was a functional and descriptive study. The research population included hospital information systems of vendors of hospitals’ softwares. A researcher-made checklist was designed to collect the data. This checklist was designed using the standards of the Ministry of Health, data from Iranian companies; as well as, the list of requirements for hospital information systems, WHO, CCHIT, and scientific articles. The content validity of the checklist was assessed by experts. The test-retest procedure was used to determine the stability of the checklist. Data were collected using the checklist by observations and interviewing with hospitals` informatics staff. Data were analyzed in the SPSS 19. Those cases that were in harmony with the checklist were analyzed using the descriptive statistics (percentage, mean, and standard deviation).

Results: The highest performance scores were obtained for the Tarasheh Hooshmand (330), Rayavaran (317) and Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (292). Regarding subcategories, Tarasheh Hooshmand had the highest score (98.4%) and Teb va Rayaneh had the lowest score (14.71%).

Conclusion: Since the number of applicants who wish to use the hospital information system has been increased, and there are shortcomings in some modules of the hospital information systems designed by the companies, there is a need to review and revise hospital information systems especially using benchmarking.

Key words: hospital information system, requirements, standard

Please cite this article as follows:

Mirabootalebi N, Kamalzadeh H, Mobaraki H, Azad M. Assessing the Ability of Hospital Information Systems Regarding the General Requirements in Iran Hakim Health Sys Res 2015; 18(2): 162- 170.