Management Challenges of Implementing Electronic Patient Referral System; a Qualitative Study

Referral chain and its efficiency in different levels of health care system leads to optimal use of manpower and equipment. The purpose of this study was to explain the management challenges in establishing an electronic referral system.

A qualitative study was conducted in Golestan province (Iran) in 2009 with inductive content analysis approach. Participants in the study were family physicians and specialists, managers and experts in charge of electronic referral system in the Deputy of Health, Deputy of Treatment, Department of Statistics and Information Technology, General Department of Health Insurance of the province who were purposefully selected. Data were collected during 39 semi-structured interviews and analyzed by content analysis using Atlas.ti 8 software.

The management challenges of Golestan province referral system were classified into 5 main categories (planning, coordination, organization, leadership and motivation, control and supervision) and 28 sub-categories.

The need to pay more attention to the management challenges resulting from the study and selection of appropriate strategies to improve the current situation, can lead to a quantitative and qualitative improvement of the patient referral system.