Titulo Estágio
Risk-aware Hospital Information Systems: A Cross-National Study
Áreas de especialidade
Sistemas de Informação
Local do Estágio
Coimbra
Enquadramento
Information Systems (IS) are critical tools for daily operations in every healthcare institution. Over the last decades, these systems have been implemented progressively to ease the workload of clinical practitioners and hospital management boards. For instance, Hospital Information Systems (HIS) allow for better treatments to be applied to patients, rapid information sharing among clinicians, centralization of information, quality management, and hospital accreditation (Barata, Cunha, & Melo Santos, 2018). Nonetheless, the adoption of HIS is more complex than other types of IS, and their technical requirements are challenging (Farzandipour, Meidani, Nabovati, Sadeqi Jabali, & Dehghan Banadaki, 2020).
Risk awareness is a primary concern in healthcare settings that now include Chief Risk Officers in their teams. Therefore, safe HIS emerged as a relevant research topic (Salahuddin et al., 2020). For example, it may incorporate data validation of patient health records, compliance to standards (e.g., ISO 31000), or more advanced artificial intelligence techniques to prevent human errors in software-related tasks. However, there is a lack of guidelines to develop risk-aware software in healthcare, and international studies evaluating risk-aware HIS deployment are still rare.
This project aims to analyze and compare risk-aware HIS in two European countries. The student will have the opportunity to deepen their knowledge about HIS and get the first contact with research activities aiming at digital solutions to support (safe) hospital practices.
Preliminary contacts with the Chief Risk Officer of a medium-sized hospital confirmed the need to improve risk-safety measures in HIS. A cross-national hospital study could contribute to (1) identify best practices to design risk-aware HIS, and (2) propose recommendations to manage risks more effectively in HIS.
References
Barata, J., Cunha, P. R., & Melo Santos, A. P. (2018). Mind the Gap: Assessing Alignment between Hospital Quality and its Information Systems. Information Technology for Development, 24(2), 315–332.
Farzandipour, M., Meidani, Z., Nabovati, E., Sadeqi Jabali, M., & Dehghan Banadaki, R. (2020). Technical requirements framework of hospital information systems: Design and evaluation. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 20(1), 1–10.
Salahuddin, L., Ismail, Z., Raja Ikram, R. R., Hashim, U. R., Idris, A., Ismail, N. H., … Abdul Rahim, F. (2020). Safe use of hospital information systems: an evaluation model based on a sociotechnical perspective. Behaviour and Information Technology, 39(2), 188–212.
Objetivo
The main objectives of this thesis are:
1) Evaluate risk-aware HIS design. The work will include interviews and survey with chief risk officers, healthcare professionals, and selected IT providers to create a typology of risks in different HIS software modules (e.g., nursing, emergency).
2) Develop a framework and recommendations to assist HIS providers and Chief Risk Officer in developing and auditing safer HIS.
Plano de Trabalhos - Semestre 1
The main phases for the first semester in Portugal are presented as follows (may overlap):
1) Research the state-of-the-art: HIS solutions, IT risk in hospital settings, models available to evaluate HIS (e.g., UTAUT - unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, UMISC - unified model of information systems continuance).
Start: September 2021
Duration: 2 months
2) Interviews with chief risk officers in district hospitals and analysis of the HIS market.
Start: October 2021
Duration: 2 months
3) Research model and instrument design.
Start: November 2021
Duration: 1 month
Results of the 1st semester:
• Literature review
• Intermediate report.
Plano de Trabalhos - Semestre 2
The main phases for the second semester (Erasmus+ mobility) are presented as follows:
4) Comparative analysis of risk-aware HIS in the two countries (questionnaire and statistical evaluation).
Start: January 2022
Duration: 4 months
5) Recommendations for risk-aware HIS design
Start: January 2022
Duration: 4 months
6) Writing of the thesis
Start: May 2022
Duration: 2 months
Results of the 2nd semester:
• Final report
• Scientific paper
Condições
The student will be integrated in the Information Systems Group (ISG) of CISUC, Department of Informatics Engineering, University of Coimbra. A workplace and the required resources will be provided.
The second semester is planned in cooperation with IST-Hochschule (cross-study of HIS in Germany), pending approval by the Erasmus+ offices.
Observações
The student will be engaged in a topic with significant relevance for digital transformation in healthcare and risk-aware software development. The project will involve contacts with HIS providers and exploratory research activities in healthcare informatics.
Orientador
João Barata;
barata@dei.uc.pt 📩