Accepted for/Published in: Interactive Journal of Medical Research
Date Submitted: Jun 15, 2023
Open Peer Review Period: Jun 15, 2023 - Aug 10, 2023
Date Accepted: Sep 27, 2023
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
A pragmatic mapping of perceptions and use of digital information systems in primary care in Sweden: a pilot study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Electronic health records and IT infrastructure in primary care allow for digital documentation and access to information, which can be used to guide evidence-based care and monitor patient safety and quality of care. Quality indicators specified by regulatory authorities can be automatically computed and presented to primary care staff, as seen in Sweden's "Quality of Primary Care" platform. However, the introduction of digital information systems (DIS) in healthcare can be challenging, and understanding factors such as relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability is needed to improve the success and rate of adoption and diffusion.
Objective:
This study aims to explore how healthcare professionals perceive and use digital information systems in primary care.
Methods:
This study used quantitative assessment to gather survey data on the use and potential of digital information systems (DIS) in healthcare in Sweden from the perspectives of primary care personnel in various roles, using two distribution approaches to maximize the number of respondents. The digital questionnaire was designed to be short and contained three sections covering: respondent characteristics, current use of platforms, and perceptions of decision support tools. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, non-parametric hypothesis testing, ordinal coefficient alpha, and confirmatory factor analysis.
Results:
The participants (n=70) from 10 regions in Sweden differed in their use and perception of DIS, with administrators using them more frequently than physicians and having more positive views towards predictive analysis of care needs.
Conclusions:
The results suggest various directions for future studies. These include refining the trialability and observability questions for increased reliability and validity, investigating a larger sample with more specific target groups to improve generalization, and exploring the relevance of different groups' perspectives and needs in relation to decisions about and usage of DIS.
Citation
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Copyright
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