Antecedents for safety in health IT: An exploratory investigation

Abstract

Most of the accidental harm in the healthcare process related to patient safety leads to medical errors. One of the recommendations to prevent medical errors is through information technology (IT). Health IT has the potential to improve the quality of the healthcare services and essentially patient safety. It suggests the healthcare provider to collect, store, retrieve and transfer patient's information electronically. Nevertheless, there are also growing evidence that the health IT can also post a risk to patient safety when it is poorly designed, implemented or adopted. Previous studies primarily focused on the errors or unintended consequences introduced by the health IT. The root cause of the medical errors due to health IT is multifaceted and originated from numerous factors. In spite of that, little focus has been given on the antecedents that influence the safety of health IT. In order to address this gap, this study investigates the antecedents that influence the safety of health IT. Systematic literature review was conducted to identify articles pertinent to safety of health IT. Science Direct database was searched for reviews relevance articles. Thirteen full articles met the eligibility criteria for further analysis. Usability, availability, compatibility, communication, workaround and knowledge were discerned as the significance antecedents influencing safety in health IT. This study may be of significance in providing useful information on how to safely implement health IT adoption. Various stakeholders such as policy makers, government agencies, healthcare providers, health IT developers and researchers may find this study useful for their respective needs.