Developing and validating 'e-health readiness assessment tools' for public and private healthcare institutions in Pakistan

Date
2006
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Abstract
Background: e-Readiness refers to the preparedness of a community or an institution to implement successfully any program that involves information and communications technology (ICT). Assessment of e-readiness can facilitate the process of change for individuals and organizations to adopt ICT, and avoid chances of relapse and failure. Various e-readiness assessment tools have been developed and tested in different fields, but very few have been created for healthcare environments. Those tools created for healthcare have only focused on the issues in developed countries. This study was designed to develop e-health? readiness assessment tools for healthcare environments (hereafter referred as e-health readiness) in developing countries. Objectives: To develop instruments to measure “e-health readiness” of healthcare institutions in developing countries, and to test their validity and reliability in Pakistan. Methods: The investigator used a mixed methods approach by applying a sequential exploratory design to develop and validate e-health readiness assessment tools. Tools were developed using participatory action research to capture partners’ opinions, reviewing existing tools, and focusing on the determinants of access to e-health. A qualitative method, borrowed from the tradition of case-study, was used to test the face and content validity of the tools in four institutions. Internal consistency reliability was ? Use of ICTs in the health care environment is referred to as telemedicine, telehealth, or e-health. These terms are not strictly interchangeable, but ‘e-health’ has been selected as the term used in this document. tested by asking healthcare providers and managers to complete the tools. Results were integrated for interpretation. Results: Separate tools were developed to obtain the perspectives of managers and of healthcare providers for e-health readiness within their organizations. Participants endorsed the face and content validity of the tools during the in-depth interviews. The ehealth readiness assessment tools were then modified based on responses from the participants. The final tools were tested for reliability in fourteen institutions across two provinces. A Cronbach’s alpha score of 0.91 was found for the healthcare providers’ tool, whereas a score of 0.94 was found for the managers’ tool. Results obtained from different methods showed good relationship. Conclusion: e-Health readiness assessment tools for healthcare providers and managers have been developed and demonstrated to be valid and reliable in the healthcare institutions in Pakistan. These tools are ready for further testing in healthcare institutions in other developing countries.
Description
Bibliography: p. 155-162
Some pages are in colour.
A copy of the thesis on CD-Rom is included.
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Citation
Khoja, S. R. (2006). Developing and validating 'e-health readiness assessment tools' for public and private healthcare institutions in Pakistan (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/344
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