information system

The implementation of electronic health (e-Health) in healthcare organizations consistently encounters numerous challenges. These barriers hinder the widespread adoption of this promising technology within healthcare settings. This study addresses the challenges of implementing e-Health across various hospitals and also aims to evaluate the maturity of hospital information systems (HIS) in Iranian hospitals based on the electronic medical record adoption model (EMRAM). Through two rounds of literature review and case studies, a comprehensive understanding of these previously unexplored issues has been developed. The findings identify 13 social and technical challenges, including the lack of standard applications, high costs associated with e-Health and training, legal issues, security concerns, inconsistencies and diversities in perceived e-Health benefits and barriers, lack of proficiency, and difficulties healthcare professionals face in integrating e-Health into their daily tasks. There are also negative perceptions among physicians and patients regarding the use of e-Health software, the lengthy implementation times for HIS systems, technical difficulties due to platform diversity, resistance to change, and the limited use of pilot projects, particularly in Iran. Moreover, the maturity of hospital cases in Iran is at 3 stages, in contrast to the 7 stages of EMRAM. These results underscore the need to develop an effective strategy to address the challenges identified in this research. Additionally, a specific program should be implemented for developers to enhance the maturity of HISs and advance them to higher stages of EMRAM.

This study aims to comparatively review the rehabilitation information systems in 8 countries: Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, and Iran.

A comprehensive review of published studies without a time limit was explored by searching the keywords, titles, and abstracts. Studies were obtained from the Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Embase databases on May 2, 2021. We also did a Google search engine to explore rehabilitation information system websites in each country. The inclusion criteria included all English and Persian articles in the field of rehabilitation information registration systems or minimum data sets and the availability of complete text of the articles. A total of 13151 related studies were extracted and finally 25 main articles and 6 websites were selected. A similar standard checklist was used to extract and compare the findings. The data items in this checklist included reference, country, registry name, established year, founder, scope, standard classification systems (coding system), data elements, and subcategories of data elements of the registry.

The literature review revealed that the United States has international rehabilitation outcomes in three areas of inpatient, outpatient, and pediatric rehabilitation that collect data from around the world. Australia has a national clinical registry for outpatient and inpatient rehabilitation outcomes for adults and children. Canada, with its national rehabilitation reporting system, gathers only adult inpatient rehabilitation information. In sweden, the Swedish Rehabilitation Medical Register includes rehabilitation activities in both inpatient and outpatient care. Rehabilitation in Malaysia with no data sharing and integration is still in its infancy. The rehabilitation information system in the UK only includes specialized rehabilitation services. In Iran, the Welfare Organization registers and collects (inpatient, outpatient, and home care) rehabilitation and financial data of the disabled with the “payment” system. In Russia, only some studies have proposed the launch of a rehabilitation information system.

The results of this literature review demonstrate that the most comprehensive rehabilitation information systems first belonged to the United States, and then to Australia, Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Iran in descending order. Meanwhile, a rehabilitation information system is being developed in Malaysia. However, Russia has not yet developed a comprehensive rehabilitation information system.

Promoting the immunity of pregnantwomenduring the Covid-19 pandemic through vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 infection is one of the main challenges. It is important to manage the information related to receiving the vaccine and its possible complications for surveillance of its safety and to deal with the challenges. Based on this, it is necessary to design a national information management system for the COVID-19 vaccination.

To promote the safety of pregnant women by providing a national model of an information management system for pregnant women’s COVID-19 vaccination in Iran.

The present research was of applied descriptive type. Based on the review of articles and information sources and a comparative study of the information management and surveillance system for the vaccination of pregnant women in developed countries, and according to the country’s organizational structure, the national model of the information management system for pregnant women’s COVID-19 vaccination was designed for Iran. Then the validation of the model was examined in two steps using the Delphi technique. Finally, after analyzing the data, the final model was presented.

The findings were categorized into two main groups, including the structural components (responsible organization and databases, surveillance center, participating organizations, and data sources) and informational process (data set, data collection, quality control, data exchanges, data processing, reporting) that reached 100% consensus of experts.

For developing IMS for the COVID-19 vaccination of pregnant women, it is necessary to specify the responsible organization and the participating centers, create surveillance centers and databases, and define the information management system process.

In the data-rich and data-sensitive environment, health information systems (HIS) have been used for decision-making by providing reliable data. The current study aims to have a holistic view on the logistic role of IS in health sector.

PubMed, Scopus, and Science Direct were searched by keywords including "information system AND health AND data", "health information system AND challenges AND network", health information system OR clinical information system AND quality of services". 547 scientific studies from 2010 onwards were selected. At first, based on papers' relevance to the aim of this study, titles and abstracts of publications were studied. 259 studies were filtered out. Then, through analyzing the full texts based on inclusion criteria, authors selected 106 papers. Finally, contents were extracted and categorized.

Due to the impact of IS on quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of services, as well as patients' safety, various types of ISs are used at different levels of the health system. They are classified based on different criteria including generality, level of the health system, managerial level, complexity, and integrity. According to IS components, non-standardized data, weak human resources capacity, incompatibility with work procedures, fragmentation of subsystems, cyber security threats, and insufficient informatics infrastructure were the main challenges.

IS in health play a logistic role in systematic data management and circulation of reliable information. A systematic and integrated view is needed to conquer the organizational and systemic challenges.

Hospital Information Systems (HIS) implementation is a complex process which is critical for modernizing healthcare delivery. This study aims to investigate, analyze, and present a suitable model for HIS implementation adaptable to the social and working culture of hospital personnel. This applied research employs a narrative review method. Library texts and internet sources were used to gather data on HIS implementation. Available literature was studied and analyzed to select and present a suitable model, which was domesticated based on the hospital needs and expert opinions. The study revealed several challenges in HIS implementation, including lack of comprehensive planning, insufficient user engagement (especially medical doctors), unclear value for users, parallel manual and computerized systems, and undefined user roles. However, some cases demonstrated well-defined elementary training and system accessibility for users. Successful HIS implementation requires meticulous planning for time, cost, and human resources. Hospital managers' financial support and involvement in decision-making are crucial. User cooperation can be enhanced through training and demonstration of system capabilities. The proposed model addresses these issues, potentially solving implementation challenges. Key factors for success include stakeholder engagement, comprehensive planning, gradual implementation, continuous training, and ongoing evaluation

In recent decades, following the upward trend of aging, one out of three people in the world need rehabilitation services during the period of illness or injury. Consideringthe long-term complications and high costs of treatment, the need to follow up and review the evidence to find the best care programs and extensive planning in this field seems mandatory. Registry systems in this area can provide the necessary evidence for strategic decisions in this field. Therefore, the purpose of this comprehensive literature review is to examine the challenges and benefits of developing a rehabilitation registration system.

A systematic review, in studies published in English, without time limit and by searching for keywords in the keywords, title and abstract of reliable scientific databases Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed and Science Direct, as well as searching the title of studies in the database Cochrane data was accessed on March 31, 2021. Studies that were a possible answer to the researched question based on the title and content were examined.

One of the most important challenges investigated was the limitation of rehabilitation comprehensive registration systems. Other challenges include the lack of support for ensuring the quality of registration data, insufficient funds for investment, privacy and data security, the unclear purpose of registration system development, access to hardware infrastructure, lack of binding laws and regulations related to registration systems, lack of access to sufficient information. To implement information registration systems, continuous monitoring and holding training courses.

The most important challenge investigated was that currently the health care and rehabilitation registration systems around the world are focused on single diseases (single discipline rehabilitation), which does not meet the needs of patients due to the multifactorial nature of rehabilitation services and chronic diseases. Therefore, it seems that the connection between the data registration systems with the help of a comprehensive guideline or model or the creation of a national integrated central database in the form of integrationwith other health information systems and based on electronic health records will be very efficient.

The Integrated Health Record System, locally known as the “SIB,” is the most used information system for recording public health services provided to the Iranian population. The objective of this study was to evaluate the success rate of the SIB using the Clinical Information System Success Model (CISSM).  

This is a psychometric and evaluation study. The CISSM has a 26-item instrument that assesses 7 constructs in 3 following stages: (1) the socio-technical stage (facilitating conditions, social influence, information quality, and system performance(;  (2) the integrated stage (system use dependency and user satisfaction); and (3) success outcome stage (net benefit). A Persian version of the CISSM instrument was validated and applied in this study. Based on this instrument, the reliability and the validity of the CISSM were assessed. The SIB success rate was evaluated using a validated CISSM. The study participants were 758 SIB users from different disciplines and different levels.  

Assessment of content validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability showed acceptable psychometric properties of the CISSM instrument. The results demonstrated that the SIB success rate was in the moderate range (59.6%). Facilitating conditions and information quality were strong predictors of use dependency and user satisfaction, while both of these 2 constructs significantly influenced net benefit.  

The SIB success was in the moderate range, and it needs to be enhanced. Therefore, Iranian healthcare policymakers should consider working on the most important factors influencing SIB success (facilitating conditions, information quality, use dependency, and user satisfaction) to improve SIB success.

 Many countries face critical challenges due to shortage and maldistribution of human resources for health (HRH). An HRH observatory can be used as a mechanism to monitor HRH issues and facilitate evidence-based decision-making. This study aims to identify the essential elements of an HRH observatory for Iran.   

 This qualitative study was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 30 key informants over two months since May 2019. Purposeful and snowball sampling methods were used. Each interview lasted a minimum of 60 min. Data analysis was performed using the content analysis approach.  

 The essential elements for integrating HRH information were categorized into the following themes: organizational structure, partnership, prerequisites for implementing HRH observatory, data management, and evidence-informed policymaking. Our results propose a national HRH observatory for Iran consisting of steering, technical and research boards, and also stakeholders' and research networks under the governance of the ministry of health and medical education (MOHME). It is required to make a comprehensive plan in several steps and arrangements based on the country's situation. The stakeholder's network was identified based on their role in HRH development and production of information and evidence. The main aim of the HRH observatory considers monitoring trends in patterns of the HRH for evidence-based decision-making and policy development. Our results propose an evidence development network consisting of a national HRH Research Center (HRHRC) and a cooperative network formed by several medical universities.  

 We provide a comprehensive approach to establishing a national HRH observatory. We consider the HRH observatory as a cooperative initiative among key stakeholders to produce knowledge in order to improve human resource policymaking. The proposed HRH observatory model emphasizes networking and stakeholder involvement.

 A review on the health information systems (HISs) of each country should not be limited only to data collected and reported normally by the service providers. In this regard, the first step for the development in any national project is exploring the experiences of other countries worldwide, especially those with economic, political, cultural, and regional partnerships, and then using their resources and documents to have a broader attitude and a better profitability in planning the development strategy.  This study was conducted to review the studies conducted on the causes of HIS success and failure, and the challenges faced by developing countries in using these systems.   

 The present study was a narrative review to meet the aim of the study, and those studies published in English language in PubMed, Web of science, and Science Direct databases and Scopus between 2000 and 2020 were investigated. Primary keywords used to extract content in these databases were as follows: "health information system," "challenges, " "success," " failure," "developing country," and "low and middle income country."  

 After searching the above-mentioned databases, 455 studies were retrieved. Finally, 24 articles were used. The causes of success and failure of HISs were finally divided into 4 categories: human, organizational, financial and technical factors. A total of 30 subfactors were extracted for different factors. Moreover, the findings indicated that many of the challenges that developing countries face in using HISs are influenced by the social, cultural, economic, geographical, and political conditions of these countries. The results represented that organizational and human elements play a critical role in the advancement or falling of the health HIS in growing countries.  

 There is a demand to come up with flexible standards for designing and deploying HISs to address these complexities. Several solutions can be found to address the obstacles and problems facing HISs in developing countries, including formulating strategic plans and policies necessary for the development of national HISs.

Antimicrobial resistance has been described as a "slow-moving Tsunami" and one of the top global health threats that affect social groups inequitably especially in LMICs. This paper analyses social inequities and ethical implications related to antibiotic use in India and how information systems can help mitigate them. India is a global AMR hotspot, showing relative policy inertia in addressing this grand challenge. The paper describes two interconnected streams of work. One, it takes an ecosystem perspective to understand inequities in practices around prescription, dispensing, and consumption of antibiotics. Two, it analyzes the potential role of the digital in trying to address these inequities. As result, the paper identifies four key determinants of social inequity and their ethical implications. Next, the paper identifies the opportunities and challenges in applying digital to address these inequities. This paper thus seeks to make an important contribution to IS research on an area of immense societal value, particularly in informing how the potential of the digital can be effectively materialized.

Designing information systems will increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the system according to the information needs of the stakeholders. The present study examined the effective features of designing the information system of medicinal plants from the perspective of its users as a prerequisite for the design of this system.

This applied research was carried out using survey method and a researcher‑made questionnaire. The study population consisted of two groups of information users (faculty members, students, and researchers of medicinal plants) and information disseminators (librarians), and 308 individuals were selected by cluster sampling from five universities. Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS software version 22.

The results showed that in view of the two groups of users, there was a significant difference in the search options in the database of medicinal plants and the displaying characteristics of the search results. On an average, the rank of the two groups in these two domains was largely different. In other cases, the users considered shared features for capabilities and facilities in an information system of medicinal plants.

According to the results, for obtaining the information system of medicinal herbs with better capabilities and facilities, it is essential for designers to pay attention to all elements and objections in the interaction of the human and the system, especially in the field of search.