An evaluation of the risk factors associated with implementing projects of health information technology by fuzzy combined ANP-DEMATEL.

BACKGROUND: Application of a Clinical Information System (CIS) like Electronic Patient Record (EPR), PACS system and CPOE has turned into one of the most important criteria of priorities of health care systems. The aims of the clinical information system include improving the physicians' efficiency level, integrating the caring process, and expanding the fuzzy quality of the services offered to patients. Achievement of these benefits in reality is not an easy task, and there are lots of plans in this field which are doomed to failure. About 50% of the implementation plans of clinical information systems in health care organizations have failed, and this trend is significantly affecting industrial countries. Proper implementation of hospital information systems lies in identifying and assessing the relationships among the most important risk factors of fuzzy. The present study aimed to provide an applicable model for identifying, ranking and evaluating the risk factors associated with projects of clinical information technology in hospitals of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. METHOD: This is an applied study which evaluates the risk factors associated with implementation of clinical information technology projects in hospitals of Shiraz Medical Sciences University. The participants consisted of professionals and senior experts of clinical information technology. Fuzzy logic was used in this study. We also applied ANP-DEMATEL combined model with fuzzy procedure to provide the analytic model of the study. RESULTS: According to the study findings, lack of top-executive supports, and unstable organizational environment were the two most important risk factors, while the main organizational factors and technology were also highly important. In addition, the factors associated with technology had the highest influence on the other studied risk factors. CONCLUSION: Hospital authorities can benefit from this proposed model to reduce the risk of implementing the projects of clinical information technology and improve the success coefficient of the risk of such projects.

Designing a thesis tele-supervision system for postgraduate medical sciences students.

INTRODUCTION: Today, progressing science and technology at all domains, including education and research, will bring new opportunities to resolve the communication and interaction problems. The aim of this study was to determine potential factors affecting the thesis supervision and provide a web-based solution. METHODS: This is a developmental study conducted in two theoretical and technical phases at the Shiraz University of Medical Sciences in 2017. The theoretical phase was performed in three stages, including literature review and investigating the existing studies and Delphi's study based experts' view as well as identifying the thesis supervision status based on 200 postgraduate students' point of view. The technical phase had two stages, including to draw processes and to design the physical and logic schemes of the system. The Thesis Tele-Supervision software named SAHPAD was designed by C# and ASP. NET programing languages. RESULTS: The results showed that out of 40 potential factors specified at the first stage of theoretical phase by using experts' opinion, 13 items were selected as the main factors. According to the results obtained from the students' views at the third stage, the factor of "accessibility" had the minimum score, i.e. 3.15 mean of four, which was the worst status. CONCLUSION: The designed system covered from the beginning to the end of the thesis workflow at its electronic frame with its various capabilities such as the interaction of the research team to decide the title, draft the proposal, prepare for thesis defense, etc.

Structural investigation of websites of selected educational hospitals of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences from Patient Relationship Management (PRM) perspective.

BACKGROUND: Hospital websites are considered as an appropriate system for exchanging information and establishing communication between patients, hospitals, and medical staff. Website character, website contact interactivity, shopping convenience, as well as care and service are the factors that the present study investigated as far as the patient relationship management is concerned. METHODS: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted on 206 patients visiting Shahid Faghihi and Ali Asghar Hospitals in Shiraz, which were capable of offering electronic services. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire based on the Mekkamol model and other similar studies, as well as investigations into the websites of the world's top hospitals. The questionnaire's validity was approved by a committee of experts and its reliability was approved based on a 54-patient sample with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.94. The data were analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with partial least squares (PLS) approach and by utilizing SPSS and Smart-PLS V2 software programs. RESULTS: The results showed that there are significant relationships between "website character" and "website contact interactivity" (p=0.00), between "shopping convenience" and "website contact interactivity" (p=0.00), and between "website contact interactivity" and "care and service" (p=0.00). CONCLUSION: Website design with such characteristics as website simplicity, shopping convenience, authenticity of information, and provision of such services as admission, scheduling appointments, and electronic payment of bills will result in interaction and communication between patients and hospital websites. This will, for its turn, pave the way for attracting more patients.

Development of the UTAUT2 model to measure the acceptance of medical laboratory portals by patients in Shiraz.

INTRODUCTION: One of the main stages for achieving the success is acceptance of technology by its users. Hence, identifying the effective factors in successful acceptance of information technology is necessary and vital. One such factor is usability. This study aimed to investigate the software usability in the "Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2)" model in patients' use of medical diagnosis laboratories' electronic portals in 2015. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 170 patients in 2015. A 27-item questionnaire adopted from previous research and the Usability Evaluation questionnaire were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), with Partial Least Squares approach by SPSS 20.0 and Smart-PLS V3.0. RESULTS: The results showed that the construct of intention to use had significant associations with price value (t-value=2.77), hedonic motivation (t-value=4.46), habit (t-value=1.99) and usability (t-value=5.2), as well as the construct of usage behavior with usability (t-value=3.45) and intention to use (t-value=2.03). CONCLUSION: Considering the results of this study, the following recommendations can be made in order for the higher use of portals by the patients: informing patients about the advantages of using these portals, designing portals in a simple and understandable form, increasing the portals' attractiveness, etc.