What Changes Need to be Made within the LNHS for Ehealth Systems to be Successfully Implemented?

摘要

This piece of work provides an assessment of the readiness levels within both urban and rural hospitals and clinics in Libya for the implementation of Ehealth systems. This then enabled the construction of a framework for Ehealth implementation in the Libyan National Health Service (LNHS). The study assessed how medications were prescribed, patients were referred, information communication technology (ICT) was utilised in recording patient records, how healthcare staff were trained to use ICT and the ways in which consultations were carried out by healthcare staff. The research was done in five rural healthcare institutions and five urban healthcare institutions and focused on the readiness levels of the technology, social attitudes, engagement levels and any other needs that were apparent (Jennett et al., 2010; Hasanain et al., 2014). Collection of the data was carried out using a mixed method approach with qualitative interviews and quantitative questionnaires (Molina et al., 2010; Creswell and Plano, 2010; Mason, 2006; Cathain, 2009; Cathain et al. 2008). The study indicated that any IT equipment present was not being utilised for clinical purposes and there was no evidence of any Ehealth technologies being employed. This implies that the maturity level of the healthcare institutions studied was zero.