Abstract
Background
The Lithuanian National Electronic Health (e-health) System was only launched in 2015. The aim of this study is to evaluate the e-health system in the Kaunas City Outpatient Clinic using a system of balanced performance indicators.
Methodology
The survey was carried out from October until December, 2018, at the Kaunas City Outpatient Clinic (Lithuania). The study included 264 medical staff members and 384 patients.
Results
62% of the patients and 100% medical staff of the clinic used various e-health system services. The most often used services by the patients were SMS reminder (75.5%), online registration (70.8%) and electronic prescription (59.3%). The physicians took the most advantage of assigning electronic prescriptions (88.2%), filling the sickness certificates (78.9%), booking laboratory tests and receiving their results electronically (63.9%). Majority of the medical staff and patients stated that the e-health services are of high quality (77.6 and 89.5%, respectively), reliable (86 and 90.8%) and have a wide spectrum of services (75.3 and 93.7%). The most common problems that patients faced when using the e-health system services were the malfunctions and failures of the system (68.9%) or missing health data of the patient (59.7%). According to the medical staff, e-health system technologies do not cover the needs of employees in full extent (95.1%), also, the e-health system is still not completely reliable (97.7%). Only 56.7% specialists stated, that they have enough skills to work with the e-health system, 77.7% would like to improve their professional qualifications in this field. The Clinic used the funds of the institution, municipality or EU structural funds to develop the e-health system, update the computer equipment and software, and acquire licenses.
Conclusions
More efficient and effective e-health services and developing the capacity of the e-health usage are required to promote high-quality health care in Lithuania.
Key messages
Although majority of the patients and medical staff members use various e-health system services and are satisfied with their quality, there still are problems with the operation of the system. Specialists feel the lack of skills to work with the e-health system.