JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The NORDeHEALTH project studies patient access to electronic health records in Estonia, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Such country comparisons require an analysis of the socio-technical context of these services.

Objective:

To develop a method for a socio-technical analysis of patient accessible electronic health records (PAEHRs) that advances a framework first presented by Sitting and Singh. This first article in a series presents the evaluation of the method and a cross-country comparison of the contextual factors that enable PAEHR access and use.

Methods:

The dimensions of the framework for socio-technical analysis were discussed and extended in a series of discussions with international stakeholders. A spreadsheet with relevant questions related to the studied services was constructed and distributed to the four participating countries, and the project participants researched various national sources to provide the relevant data for the comparisons in ten socio-technical dimensions.

Results:

Three dimensions were added to the method of Sittig and Singh to separate clinical content from features and functions of PAEHRs and to demonstrate basic characteristics of the different countries regarding national and regional steering of healthcare and ICT developments. The final framework contained the following dimensions: Metadata, Hardware and Software Computing Infrastructure, Features and Functions, Clinical Content Shared with Patients, Human Computer Interface, People, Workflow and Communication, Healthcare Organization’s Internal Policies, Procedures and Culture, National Rules, Regulations and Incentives, System Measurement and Monitoring and Healthcare System Context. Several similarities were identified between the compared countries, especially regarding Hardware and Software Computing Infrastructure. When it comes to the dimension Healthcare System Context most of the differences could be identified. One important difference concerned the governing of ICT development where different levels (state, region, municipality) were responsible in different countries.

Conclusions:

This is the first large-scale international socio-technical analysis of services for patients to access their electronic health records; the present study compared services in Estonia, Finland, Norway and Sweden. A methodology for such an analysis was developed and is presented to enable comparison studies in other national contexts.