Health Information Systems – Opportunities and Challenges in a Global Health Ecosystem

Health Information Systems (HIS) and Health Information Technology (HIT) have experienced significant growth in use and improved functionality in recent years. The global HIS/HIT market is estimated to grow exponentially in value by 2020. This growth in market size is largely attributable to three key factors: 1) the need for disruptive solutions to challenge the spiraling cost of healthcare, 2) the increased penetration into new markets of healthcare related systems, and 3) the increasing demand for personalized medicine driven by the availability of novel, real-time data streams not previously experienced in the healthcare domain. This short article explores these three aspects of HIS/HIT. In order to achieve meaningful advances in people\u27s health through the provision of new technologies, a more integrated and holistic approach is needed in the design and implementation of HIS. The increasing costs of healthcare coupled with the heightened expectations of stakeholders continues to place increasing pressure on those tasked with delivering new health technologies that are ‘fit for purpose’ in respective healthcare settings. More attention needs to be given to understanding the cost of healthcare and how HIS/HIT may create value in healthcare services

Characterising the knowledge approach of a firm: an investigation of knowledge activities in five software SMEs

An organisation’s ability to successfully compete in a changing market place is contingent on its ability to manage what it knows, in order to serve the objectives of the firm. While it has been argued that due to their size, knowledge management (KM) is not a concern for smaller organisations, in the current economic climate, it is expected that a more formalised approach to KM allows the company to seize opportunities as they arise, and deal with environmental uncertainty more effectively. In view of this, the objective of this study was to devise a classification of knowledge activities (KAs) which facilitates the exploration of a Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in terms of the type and extent to which knowledge is managed. Furthermore, analysis of KAs provided a greater understanding of the fit between the firm’s objectives and the KM approach pursued. In order to achieve this, five case studies were conducted. Based on the classification of KAs identified, a qualitative analysis approach was used to code each of the twenty eight interviews carried out. Both quantitative and qualitative content analysis methods were applied to facilitate data reduction and generate meaning from the significant volume of data collected. The output from this study includes a classification of KAs which provides rich insight into how SMEs are motivated to deal with knowledge as a means of achieving their organisational objectives. From a practitioner viewpoint, this study seeks to offer an improved understanding of a software SMEs’ approach to KM

Exploring the alignment of organisational goals with KM: cases in four Irish software SMEs

In the anticipation of the knowledge economy and the organisational pursuit of ‘knowing what we know’ modern organisations have endeavoured to achieve varying levels of KM. It has typically been larger organisations that have possessed the economies of scale i.e. the financial resources to pursue this strategy, where they perceive they will lose their market share if they do not follow the trend. Smaller organisations have not had the same luxury. Ironically however, it is smaller organisations that have successfully managed knowledge for centuries. However there remains an absence of empirical evidence that highlights how SMEs operationalise their approach to KM, particularly in the high-technology sectors. In view of the current financial instability, never has it been more important to focus on the knowledge capabilities of software SMEs where managing organisational knowledge is essential to the continued success of an SME. Pursuing a qualitative analysis approach using multiple case studies in four Irish software SMEs, this study identifies sources of knowledge and occurrences of knowledge activities (KAs) as a means of understanding the firm’s approach to knowledge management (KM) and how this may be closely aligned to the organisation’s greater strategic objectives thus providing them with greater flexibility to deal with environmental uncertainty. At the level of the cases, it was evident that software SMEs leverage KAs to serve their knowledge transfer needs. Unexpectedly, the findings from this study indicate that these software SMEs were not good at knowledge creation activity. This may be attributed to the nature of the SME where a small number of key players i.e. founder/manager/head of development assumed responsibility for this type of activity. Fundamentally, these software SMEs choose to leverage knowledge and KAs in order to serve the greater needs of the firm such as the need to develop a new software product, improve their customer relationships or ensure their position as an important cog in a larger organisation

Reviewing mHealth in developing countries: a stakeholder perspective

Infrastructural deficiencies, limited access to medicare, and shortage of health care workers are just a few of the barriers to health care in developing countries. As a consequence, the burden of disease and its impact on the livelihoods and the economic productivity of people are staggering. mHealth has been extolled as one possible solution to overcoming these challenges, yet discussion of mHealth systems is often limited to specific tasks and user groups. To address this, we adopt a stakeholder perspective and analyze existing research on the mHealth process in developing countries. Specifically, we focus on three key stakeholder groups, i.e. healthcare workers, patients, and system developers. We perform an in-depth analysis of 60 peer-reviewed studies to determine the extent to which different mHealth stakeholder interactions are researched, and to identify high-level themes emerging within these interactions. This analysis illustrates two key gaps in existing mHealth research. First, while interactions involving healthcare workers and/or patients have received significant attention, relatively little research has looked at the role of patient-to-patient interactions. Second, the interactions between system developers and the other stakeholder groups are strikingly under-represented. We conclude by calling for more mHealth research that explicitly addresses these stakeholder interactions

Plausible Pictures For Data Governance: A Narrative Network Approach

Workaround-centric data activities (WCDA) can impact data integrity/quality. Despite this, one can view WCDA as an enhancement to organisational Data Governance (DG) maturity. However, these WCDA are primarily undocumented and poorly understood. Therefore, we need a means of creating plausible pictures for DG – by modelling WCDA visually. This study draws on the theory of organisational routines to develop WCDA modelling rules. It is the first study to leverage the Narrative Network (NN) approach as a conceptual lens to model WCDA visually. We identify five WCDA modelling rules: 1) a narrative fragment must come from a process actor, 2) a narrative fragment has three attributes: actor, action & resource, 3) all attributes in a narrative fragment establish the action type, 4) a narrative fragment must contain a data activity, and 5) a narrative fragment data activity must follow a standard naming convention. In conclusion, we discuss the advantages of our approach

Design guidelines for online resources: a longitudinal analysis of information processing

This paper proposes that to create superior information resources that meet the information needs of the target audience, a greater understanding of information processing is required. We suggest that the subjective assessment criteria that information-seekers use to process information resources and the information they contain can be used to produce design guidelines for online information resources. This is tested using data from a participant in an eighteen-month longitudinal study of expectant and new mothers. From our participant, three information resource assessment criteria (convenience, credibility, and format) and five information assessment criteria (complete, easy to understand, references, relevance and reliability) were identified. These eight criteria were used to generate design guidelines to meet the needs of our participant. This article provides an analysis tool that can be used by other researchers to collect and analyse subjective assessment criteria