Bah Sulaiman, Alharthi Hana, El Mahalli Azza Ali, Jabali Abdelkaream, Al-Qahtani Mona, Al-kahtani Nouf
College of Applied Medical Sciences, University of Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
Perspect Health Inf Manag. 2011;8(Fall):1b. Epub 2011 Oct 1.
This study aims to determine the level and extent of usage of electronic health records (EHRs) in government-related hospitals in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Another aim is to develop a Web site to serve as a forum of exchange on the development of EHRs in Saudi Arabia. All government hospitals (n = 19) in the province were included. The information technology (IT) managers in those hospitals made up the target population. An online questionnaire was developed, and the IT managers in all 19 government hospitals were invited to participate in the survey. The responses from the online survey were downloaded and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Of the 19 hospitals, only three (15.8 percent) use EHRs. These hospitals were established in 1984, 1995, and 2005. All three of these hospitals have implemented the same EHR software and were using it successfully, and all three were using the three core features of laboratory, radiology, and pharmacy electronic modules. Some modules were present in the EHR system but were underutilized. Some of the main challenges faced by the IT managers in implementing EHRs in their hospitals were related to the uncooperative attitudes of some physicians and nurses toward EHRs. In fulfillment of the second aim of the study, a Web site, http://ehr2011.weebly.com, was developed to serve as a forum for exchange of information on the development of EHRs in Saudi Arabia. The government of Saudi Arabia has prioritized the development of eHealth (health information technology) and allocated committed funding for it during 2008-2011. During this period, some sectors of government made highly commendable efforts in developing eHealth services. Along these lines, we had hoped to see higher uptake of EHRs than the 15.8 percent found in this study. The rate of implementing EHRs in government hospitals should be accelerated. The aim should be on achieving some basic EHR functionality in these hospitals, and once this has been achieved, additional functionality can be pursued in stages.
本研究旨在确定沙特阿拉伯东部省与政府相关医院中电子健康记录（EHRs）的使用水平和程度。另一个目标是开发一个网站，作为沙特阿拉伯电子健康记录发展的交流论坛。该省所有政府医院（n = 19）都被纳入研究。这些医院的信息技术（IT）经理构成了目标人群。开发了一份在线调查问卷，并邀请了所有19家政府医院的IT经理参与调查。在线调查的回复被下载并使用描述性统计进行分析。在这19家医院中，只有三家（15.8%）使用电子健康记录。这些医院分别建于1984年、1995年和2005年。这三家医院都实施了相同的电子健康记录软件并成功使用，并且都在使用实验室、放射科和药房电子模块这三个核心功能。电子健康记录系统中有些模块虽有但未得到充分利用。IT经理们在医院实施电子健康记录时面临的一些主要挑战与一些医生和护士对电子健康记录的不合作态度有关。为实现研究的第二个目标，开发了一个网站http://ehr2011.weebly.com，作为沙特阿拉伯电子健康记录发展信息交流的论坛。沙特阿拉伯政府已将电子健康（健康信息技术）的发展列为优先事项，并在2008 - 2011年期间为此分配了专项资金。在此期间，政府的一些部门在发展电子健康服务方面做出了非常值得称赞的努力。按照这些思路，我们原本希望看到电子健康记录的采用率高于本研究中发现的15.8%。政府医院实施电子健康记录的速度应加快。目标应该是在这些医院实现一些基本的电子健康记录功能，一旦实现这一点，就可以分阶段追求额外的功能。
