Challenges for effective information management in hospitals: perspectives of junior doctors
Date
2018
Authors
Evans, L.
Evans, N.
Price, J.
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Conference paper
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Proceedings of the 14th European Conference of Management, Leadership and Governance (ECMLG 2018), 2018, pp.54-65
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14th European Conference of Management, Leadership and Governance (ECMLG 2018) (18 Oct 2018 - 19 Oct 2018 : Utrecht, The Netherlands)
Abstract
Data, information and knowledge are often referred to as 'the lifeblood' of an organisation. Managing such information is especially important in hospitals as lives and wellbeing of patients depend on it. This paper describes the results of qualitative empirical research to elicit views of junior doctors regarding the information they encounter in hospitals, challenges to effective information management and strategies for improvement. Personal interviews were conducted with ten junior doctors in hospitals in Adelaide, South Australia. It was found that junior doctors encounter patient information such as patient history, test results and clinical guidelines, as well as management information such as rosters and professional development. Junior doctors face a number of challenges regarding information management, including poor handover and documentation, challenges obtaining histories from patients, poorly centralised information storage, lack of access to external information, limits of confidentiality, information security and poor information destruction. Recommendations to improve information management in South Australian hospitals include improvements in the information management behaviour of practitioners, the implementation of a centralised electronic medical records system, improved hardware and clear guidelines regarding information management.
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Copyright 2018 The Author(s)