The Importance of Information and Control Systems for the Performance of Portuguese Hospitals

摘要

We live in the age of information, at a time when technology continues to revolutionize people's daily life, permanently challenging companies in an effort to keep the pace of change and innovation. Also highly innovative and sensitive for the population are the healthcare services. For a long that governments attribute a key importance to this vital sector for the wellbeing of the society. An unhealthy population means a less satisfied and less productive economy, that can lead to disruption, turmoil even. As technology enhanced and improved the existing information systems' in place, and as governments are increasingly facing budgetary constraints, the importance of information and control systems resembles critical nowadays. In this paper the role of information and control systems put in place in Portuguese Hospitals is subject to examination trying also to capture any possible contribution that such systems can offer for a better performance of these special and complex organizations. To achieve this, a quantitative approach was used, resulting in the employment of the questionnaire methodology, being the results subject to statistical analysis and validation.