Leveraging E‐Health for Future‐Oriented Healthcare Systems in Developing Countries

Abstract

Health IT has become a driving force for health institutions to embrace holistic integration so as to offer high-quality diagnoses and to provide solutions designed to assist medical personnel to improve patients' healthcare. However, success of integrating IT in healthcare has been seen mainly in developed countries. Health institutions in developing and least developed countries are still being challenged by many factors that have hindered the successful integration of IT in healthcare. Readiness has been one of the major challenges for electronic health (e-health) implementation in developing countries' health institutions. It is therefore essential that health institutions in developing countries carryout E -health readiness assessment prior to its implementation. The goal of this study was to report on the E-health readiness assessment model contextualized in developing countries. The study employed the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) to validate the data that was collected from health institutions of the rural North-west province of South Africa. The results indicated that core readiness is the most essential element for E-health readiness. The designed model will be used both theoretically and practically. Theoretically, it will be used in the investigation of new ways of implementing E-health in developing countries. Practically, the model will be used to assist healthcare decision makers and governments to make informed decisions on how to grant citizens affordable access to healthcare, especially those in disadvantaged rural areas.

Identifying Essential Components of a Digital Health Innovation Ecosystem for the Namibian Context: Findings from a Delphi Study

“…The findings also revealed that digital health components such as telemedicine/tehealth, e-health and m-health were regarded as essential components for the development of a digital health innovation ecosystem for the Namibian context. This is consistent with other studies which indicate that telemedicine (Cilliers & Flowerday, 2014), e-health (Kalema & Kgasi, 2014), and m-health (Noutat et al, 2016) have been considered important in developing countries.…”

Application of the Innovative System for е-Health Care and Prevention by the Evaluation and Analysis of ECG Signals

“…e-Health uses information and communication technologies for diagnosing and treating patients and promoting a healthy lifestyle (primary prevention), conducting research, training health professionals, tracking diseases and monitoring public health to improve or create conditions for provision of health services and health care [21], [22], [23].…”

The Readiness Study of E-Health Adoption Among Regional Public Hospitals; An Empirical Study in Indonesia

“…The adoption of e-health system in hospitals refers to using technology system for business activities (e-business), accordingly, e-health adoption was derived from business-oriented use [8] related to interbusiness communication, coordination's and collaboration. Again, adoption also refers to the nature of system use [15] based on functional and expected purposes. In the meantime, the readiness construct in using ehealth system was derived from [9,16] which is measured through the relative status of health institutions and systems' users in adopting ICT and information systems.…”