Implementation status of health information systems in hospitals in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia

The implementation and adoption of the Health Information System (HIS) in hospitals has increased worldwide in recent years. HIS have various benefits, as they can streamline operations, increase operational efficiency, and reduce operational costs, especially in relation to management of electronic health records. The objective of this study was to investigate the implementation status of health information systems (HISs) in hospitals in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia considering the following categories in the structuring of electronic health records: electronic clinical documentation, results viewing, decision support, and bar coding. To collect the information required in this study a questionnaire was developed and sent by email to HIS departments of 18 hospitals located in urban areas in the Eastern region in Saudi Arabia. The outcome variable in the study was the overall implementation score of each hospital. 67% of HIS were purchased, 28% were developed in-house, and 2% were provided by other sources. Most of the functionalities of the electronic clinical documentation and viewing categories were fully implemented in the majority of the hospitals. About a half of the functions in the decision support category were either fully implemented or not implemented. Finally, most of the bar coding functions were fully implemented in the majority of the hospitals, except for the supply chain function, which was not available in 44% of the hospitals. This is the first comprehensive description of the HIS status in hospitals in the Eastern region of Saudi Arabia. The implementation of HIS is promising, especially for basic functions related to patient information such as electronic clinical documentation and viewing results. The outcomes of this research indicated that the hospitals are implementing the health information systems in stages. The information obtained in this research may be useful for the health institutions to develop mechanisms that contribute to the implementation and adoption of health information systems throughout the country.