Critical success factors of smart card technology in South African public hospitals

Background: Even though the government has set several admirable targets for raising the standard of healthcare, as highlighted by communities and media reports, public health institutions’ services continue to fall short of patients’ expectations and basic standards of care. For this reason, the general public has lost faith in the healthcare system. The public healthcare system in South Africa is completely dysfunctional and urgently needs to be transformed to serve the majority of those who use public hospitals. Objectives: The study aimed to improve healthcare for the majority of South Africans by investigating the critical success factors (CSFs) that influence the adoption of smart card technology (SCT) in South African public hospitals. Methods: A thorough review of peer-reviewed literature was conducted to determine potential barriers to adopting SCT. Furthermore, a hybrid model that combines the Health Unified Technology of Acceptance Theory (HUTAUT) model, DeLone and McLean IS success model (DM) and the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory will be developed, validated and tested to identify the CSFs adoption of SCT in public hospitals in South Africa. Results: The validated research model has been developed to be adopted by nurses at public hospitals. Conclusion: This research will contribute to the development of a new framework that identifies the CSFs for SCT adoption in South African public hospitals. Contribution: The study’s results will make a special contribution to the body of knowledge in the fields of health informatics, particularly e-health

A Structural Equation Model for implementation of Smart Card Technology in public healthcare

The improvement of health care, efficiency, safety, and quality of delivery and access for patients highly portray a rather significant increase in public healthcare. The emergence of this proliferation of healthcare technology is then expected to grow. Therefore, Information technology (IT) has become significant part of providing consistent care quality by healthcare professionals to patients. The study seeks to explain on factors that influence the implementation of Smart Card Technology in South African public healthcare institutions. This was a cross-sectional study conducted in four Tshwane hospitals in Gauteng province, South Africa in 2021. A quantitative research method approach was used. respondents were selected using the purposive sampling method. using a self-administered questionnaire completed by (n=406) healthcare professionals from Steve Biko academic hospital, Tshwane District hospital, Kalafong hospital and Pretoria West Hospital were analysed. The structural equation modeling (SEM) and principal component analysis (PCA) methods in statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) were used to analyse the data. The factor analysis in this study used 15 variables were used for the conceptual framework. The findings generally supported the hypothesized model. The study recommends that a framework for the implementation of SCT be developed in public healthcare

A framework for implementation of smart card technology in public healthcare

The proliferation of information and communication technology (ICT) in numerous public administration sectors has accelerated the transition of government departments from traditional work into work that is highly dependent on ICT. Smart Card Technology (SCT) has intrinsic benefits for a range of industries, including telecommunications, finance, transportation and the public sector in the areas of security, authentication and multi-application capabilities. Medical mistakes still occur often in public healthcare, which results in poor service. As a result, manual file systems cannot be depended upon or used and prescription errors resulting from misinformation or inconsistency regarding the dosage, allergies and interactions must be resolved. This study seeks to develop a framework for implementing SCT in public healthcare. The key factors for the application of SCT were enhanced in this study by using a conceptual framework based on the Healthcare Unified Theory of Acceptance of User Technology Model (HUTAUT) (2018), DeLone and McLean IS Success Model (2003) and Diffusion of Innovation theory (DOI) (2003). To achieve its goals, the study adopted a quantitative research methodology. Respondents were selected using the convenience sample technique. In the Steve Biko Academic Hospital, Tshwane District Hospital, Kalafong Tertiary Hospital and Pretoria West District Hospital in South Africa's Gauteng area, 406 provided healthcare professionals self-administered questionnaires. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 was used for data analysis, and both descriptive and inferential statistics were applied in this study. It was decided to validate both the model and the instrument using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Moreover, structural equation modelling (SEM) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was applied. The quantitative study's findings identified several elements that must be considered when making decisions for SCT to be implemented in South African public hospitals. Seven hypotheses were found to be supported by the investigation, including those covering behavioural intention (H5), system use (H8), information quality (H9), communication (H12), compatibility (H13) and trialability (H14). The performance expectancy hypothesis (H2), on the other hand, was not supported because of its low reliability. Five hypotheses, however, that dealt with effort expectancy (H1), social impact (H3), facilitating conditions (H4), user pleasure (H7) and user attitude (H6) were not, for this rationale, validated in this study. These results indicated that the Department of Health and other stakeholders' choice to apply SCT in public healthcare is significantly influenced by behavioural intention, system quality, system use, information quality, compatibility, communication and trialability. This study explores SCT’s potential application in public healthcare. In addition, the Department of Health should increase the usage of SCT in public hospitals throughout all provinces where healthcare reforms are urgently required. This could be addressed by healthcare professionals within public healthcare by using elements for the implementation of SCT acquired from the study. The study intends to assist with the implementation of smart card technology, which would increase and improve the standard of healthcare service delivery in South African public hospitals.School of ComputingPh. D. (Information Systems