scholarly journals A survey of the knowledge and attitudes of Egyptian healthcare professionals towards the application of Health Information Technology to optimize antibiotic therapy

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. i28-i28
Author(s):  
N Hassan ◽  
R Slight ◽  
S P Slight

Abstract Introduction Antimicrobial resistance is a global health problem, especially in developing countries. Antimicrobial Stewardship Programmes (AMS) have been shown to be effective at reducing antimicrobial resistance and hospital patient stays. Health information technology (HIT) can support Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy (OPAT) through more accurate diagnosis and management of infectious diseases. Aim To evaluate the knowledge and attitude of Egyptian healthcare professionals towards the application of HIT to optimize OPAT. Methods Healthcare professionals who worked in either private or public sectors of Egyptian healthcare system were emailed and asked if they would be willing to complete an electronic questionnaire (using google forms). One reminder was sent by email each week for two weeks (two in total) from the first invitation. The survey was laid out in four sections. The first section included specific details about the healthcare professional’s current employment and role, the second related to HIT services available in their organisations, the third covered their training in HIT and antimicrobial stewardship programmes, and the fourth included their use of HIT to optimize OPAT. Ethical approval was obtained from National Heart Institute, Egypt. Descriptive analysis was carried out for all the variables. One-way ANOVA testing at level of significance P-value <0.05, was used to compare numerical variables. SPSS version 26 was used for statistical analysis. Results Three hundred and eighty-five healthcare professionals were invited to respond to the questionnaire. (The response rate was 75.34% (290)). Of these, 152 (52.6%) were pharmacists, 134 (46.4%) physicians, and 3 (1%) nurses, and many participants (30.8%) had between 6 to 10 years of experience working in either outpatient or in-patient units. Only 15.2% of respondents mentioned that they have access to OPAT in their organizations, 51.2% did not have the service, while 33.6% responded that they did not know if the service was available. However, 27.3% had a training on ASP and 18.3% had a training on HIT. Mean scores for both knowledge (14.31±5.49) and attitude (14.67±2.53) were significantly higher in professionals who had received training in HIT (p = 0.003 & 0.006 respectively). However, scores for attitude were better than scores for knowledge. Conclusions In developing countries, HIT applications in OPAT are still in their infancy with only a few organisations adopting them. Egyptian healthcare professionals showed positive attitudes towards HIT use, especially when their knowledge was improved through training. Two strengths of this study include our high response rate and the wide breadth of different healthcare professionals who responded from both private and public healthcare settings. However, being a questionnaire, some questions were left unanswered and some respondents may not have been aware of their reasons for a particular answer. That said, this study has important implications for practice, with more awareness amongst healthcare professionals required on the availability of HIT services in their hospitals and how further training may be needed on the applications of HIT in optimizing OPAT.

ACI Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 05 (01) ◽  
pp. e47-e53
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Haskell ◽  
Brittany Mandeville ◽  
Emily Cooper ◽  
Rebekah Gardner

Abstract Objectives While electronic health records (EHRs) have improved billing efficiency and note legibility, they may also disrupt clinical workflows, affect patient interactions, and contribute to physician burnout. This study aimed to identify effective strategies, as reported by physicians, to mitigate these EHR shortcomings. Methods The Rhode Island Department of Health administers a health information technology (HIT) survey biennially to all physicians in active practice statewide. The 2019 survey asked physicians about strategies implemented personally or by their practice to improve their experience working with HIT. Physicians who identified at least one strategy were then asked if each implemented strategy was “actually useful.” Results The 2019 survey was administered to 4,266 physicians, with a response rate of 43%. Both office- and hospital-based physicians most commonly reported that their practices had implemented voice-recognition dictation software (48 and 68%, respectively). Office- and hospital-based physicians identified self-care as the most commonly implemented personal change (48 and 47%, respectively). However, 26% of office-based and 15% of hospital-based physicians reported reducing clinical hours or working part-time to improve their experience working with HIT. The strategies identified as “actually useful” varied by practice setting and were not always the most widely implemented approaches. Conclusion Most physicians reported that both they personally and their practices had implemented strategies to improve their experience with HIT. Physicians found some of these strategies more helpful than others, and the strategies identified as most useful differed between office- and hospital-based physicians. From a workforce and access perspective, prioritizing strategies that physicians find “actually useful” is critical, as many physicians in both settings reported reducing clinical hours to improve their experience.


2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (01) ◽  
pp. 70-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Almerares ◽  
D. Luna ◽  
A. Marcelo ◽  
M. Househ ◽  
H. Mandirola ◽  
...  

SummaryBackground: Patient safety concerns every healthcare organization. Adoption of Health information technology (HIT) appears to have the potential to address this issue, however unanticipated and undesirable consequences from implementing HIT could lead to new and more complex hazards. This could be particularly problematic in developing countries, where regulations, policies and implementations are few, less standandarized and in some cases almost non-existing.Methods: Based on the available information and our own experience, we conducted a review of unintended consequences of HIT implementations, as they affect patient safety in developing countries.Results: We found that user dependency on the system, alert fatigue, less communications among healthcare actors and workarounds topics should be prioritize. Institution should consider existing knowledge, learn from other experiences and model their implementations to avoid known consequences. We also recommend that they monitor and communicate their own efforts to expand knowledge in the region.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajesh R. Pai ◽  
Sreejith Alathur

PurposeThis paper discusses the need for government and healthcare organization to implement mobile phone-based solutions for healthcare during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. It also highlights the challenges and/or barriers to the rapid introduction, implementation and management of these and other innovative solutions to health service delivery during the current situationDesign/methodology/approachThe data include both qualitative and quantitative, collected from the primary interview-based case study and questionnaire survey. It also uses insights from the general populations, healthcare professionals and health information technology developers to understand the role of a mobile health intervention in the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.FindingsHealthcare professionals and health information technology developers are confident that the use of mobile health technology and applications has the ability to assist in monitoring and controlling the COVID-19 outbreak. The key advantages of using mobile phone technology are: increased awareness, improved assistance in tracking and testing casualties, improved assistance in seeking and scheduling health information and medical appointments, increased social distancing, improved overall productivity and quality of life. However, data demonstrated that lack of awareness and accessibility or unwillingness to use the technology, complex healthcare needs, application infrastructure, policies and a dearth of training and support are all barriers to successful implementation of this useful tool.Practical implicationsThis research has the potential to make a significant impact on government and healthcare policy through presenting a coherent argument for the importance of designing and deploying mobile health technology and applications for the general population.Originality/valueprior literature in this domain is inadequate in explaining the importance of mobile phone-based healthcare solutions for health service and during serious disease outbreaks and, in particular, within the Indian context. The findings of this study can be used by government and healthcare organizations to improve health governance during the current global pandemic.


2017 ◽  
Vol 110 (8) ◽  
pp. 320-329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abby King ◽  
Kathrin M Cresswell ◽  
Jamie J Coleman ◽  
Sarah K Pontefract ◽  
Ann Slee ◽  
...  

Antimicrobial resistance is now recognised as a threat to health worldwide. Antimicrobial stewardship aims to promote the responsible use of antibiotics and is high on international and national policy agendas. Health information technology has the potential to support antimicrobial stewardship in a number of ways, but this field is still poorly characterised and understood. Building on a recent systematic review and expert roundtable discussions, we take a lifecycle perspective of antibiotic use in hospitals and identify potential targets for health information technology-based interventions to support antimicrobial stewardship. We aim for this work to help chart a future research agenda in this critically important area.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Libsuye Yalgaw Zimamu ◽  
Gashaw Mehiret Wubet

Abstract Background: Place of work turnover is critical to health information technology professionals (HIT) and health information systems as it indications dropping skilled and competent health information professionals. However, the progress of surviving plans requests a strong acceptance of the place of work variables that either inspire health information staff to persist active or principal them to dispensation their recent working organization.Objective: This study was deliberate to measure intention to leave and associated factors among health information technology professionals working in south Gondar zone public health institution, Amhara Region, EthiopiaMethods: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 122 health information technology professionals. Data were collected using structured pre-tested self-administered questionnaires from September 1 to October 1/2020. The collected data were entered into Epi-info Version 7 and exported to SPSS version 20 software for analysis. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression was employed to detect influences associated with dependent and independent variables. Odds ratio (OR), with 95% CI and p< 0.05 were computed to determine the level of significance.Results: Based on the operational definition the total score of intent to leave health information technology professionals from the organization was 64.8% [95% CI: 56.6-72.9]. Among the applicant variables for multivariable analysis 3 variables like the marital status of the respondents [OR: 0.49(0.231-1.042)p: value 0.000], performance appraisal of the respondents [OR: 7.0(2.66-18.45) p: value 0.000] and recognition of the respondents [OR: .447(.783-3.513) p: value 0.002] had to have a significant association with intention to leave and performance appraisal of the respondents were significantly associated 8.29 times [AOR: 8.29(3.002-22.889)p: value 0.001] to leave of the respondents from the working organization.Conclusion and recommendation: The magnitude of health information professionals' intention to leave was found to be high, which can extremely affect the coverage and quality of information management and use of information for decisions in the zone. Health care policy-makers and hospital managers need to develop and institutionalize evidence-based retention strategies taking into consideration the predictors of health information professionals’ intention to leave.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 247
Author(s):  
Kathrin Cresswell ◽  
Ann Slee ◽  
Aziz Sheikh

Background: There is currently limited guidance for hospitals to implement ePrescribing systems. We have developed an ePrescribing Toolkit designed to support ongoing implementation, adoption and optimisation of efforts.Aim: To investigate the perceived usefulness, reported use and areas for further development of the Toolkit by ePrescribing implementers in English hospitals.Methods: Questionnaire-based survey of hospitals that have or are interested in implementing ePrescribing systems.Results: We received responses from a total of 78 individuals representing 49 English NHS Trusts (out of 82 different Trusts who were emailed the survey, 60% response rate). The overwhelming majority of respondents (92%) were familiar with the ePrescribing Toolkit and 66% reported using it to guide their ongoing implementation efforts. The majority of ePrescribing Toolkit users (85%) viewed it as a helpful resource. Implementers particularly valued the case studies describing lessons learnt from hospitals that had already implemented ePrescribing systems. Suggestions for improvement included more information in relation to the progress of hospitals implementing systems, the names of key contacts in these sites, a list of available systems and the contact details of ePrescribing vendors. Respondents also highlighted the need for more information on optimisation and specialist prescribing.Conclusions: Interactive elements and learning lessons from early adopter sites that had accumulated experiences of implementing systems was viewed as the most helpful aspect of the ePrescribing Toolkit. The Toolkit now needs to be further developed to facilitate the continuing implementation/optimisation of ePrescribing and other health information technology across the NHS.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document