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Top1. Background
Clinical services in hospitals are diversified and include different kinds of healthcare which patients require. There are two types of healthcare services provided in hospitals: direct and indirect care. For both kinds to be efficient, clinical documentation needs to be efficient as well. Documentation consists of written or visual explanations reflecting what the software does, uses, and processes such information (Aggelidis & Chatzoglou, 2012). Traditionally, paper-and-pen technique was used to reflect the care provided so that other care providers can take the clinical decision. Nowadays, clinical information systems (CISs) have become the major tool for documentation. CIS uses computers and networks to communicate patient’s information between different health care providers (Watfa, Majeed, & Salahuddin, 2016). CIS refers to the applications designed to reflect patient’s care by electronically documenting all relevant data using computers (Karimi, Poo, & Tan, 2015). A good definition can be as follows: a database management system that processes patients data in an aim to help make a proper clinical decision by healthcare providers. Supported by this database, an interface that access patients’ records to plan and evaluate healthcare provided (Medical Dictionary, 2019). In fact, the most important reason that helped shift from the paper-based documentation into the electronic one is the tremendous improvement in the field of information technology (IT).
Undoubtedly, CIS has improved the communication among those providers and made it much easier for them to reach the necessary information to complete their work. The system was a real shift in the way of doing the work (Watfa, Majeed, & Salahuddin, 2016). It has helped solve the problem of legibility that helped improved the decision-making process (Wilbanks, et al., 2018), (Baumann, Baker, & Elshaug, 2018). CIS has faced continuous improvements toward becoming a smart tool that has enhanced the capabilities of the care providers to give the best care possible and make their life easier (Aldosari, Al-Mansour, Aldosari, & Alanazi, 2018). On the other hand, there have been considerable consequences that hindered reaching the ideal utilization of the system. One of the most concerning consequences is the clinicians’ satisfaction, which severely impacted the success of system implementation. This is due to the fact that end users are the main stakeholders who can practically decide how efficiently the system can be utilized (Sebetci, 2018).
The challenge of end-user’s satisfaction is central to the case of Qatar, where significant investments to implement and improve the utilization of the CIS have been made in the public healthcare sector. Decision-makers aimed to improve the overall patient care provided. On the other side, it is well perceived among healthcare providers how the implemented system has improved communication of clinical information. Implementing new systems is typically accompanied by some obstacles that hinder reaching its best results. Based on that, this paper intends to find answers to the following research questions:
This study targets healthcare providers, namely nurses and physicians, who provide direct and indirect patient care. The study focused on those professionals working in Al Wakra Hospital (AWH), a 325-bed capacity hospital that is a member of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC). HMC is the dominant public healthcare provider in Qatar (Hamad Medical Corporation, 2019). AWH was accredited by the Joint Commission International (JCI) for meeting the standards of care and safety. It was also accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) for committing to high standards in lab services. More so, it was recognized by the Surgical Review Corporation (SRC) as a center of excellence for hernia repair, bariatric surgery, and urology stone treatment. It is currently under process for application for more accreditations and recognitions (Hamad Medical Corporation, 2019). Around five years ago, a clinical information system (CIS) was purchased by HMC and was implemented in all hospitals under the umbrella of HMC.