Efficiency increases when tech vendors, clinicians collaborate

Software vendors should involve clinicians (doctors who are in direct contact with patients) in the development of new systems to enhance the efficiency of clinical work and ultimately improve health care services, the software company CompuGroup Medical (CGM) concluded in a recent study.
The CGM presented their findings during a conference and exhibition held by the Ministry of Health and HIMSS Middle East, an organization that aims to improve IT and management systems in the health sector.
Focusing on creating a design that is both user-centered and activity-centered will be crucial in the successful development and implementation of clinical information systems.
A user-centered design means that users of the system are involved throughout its lifecycle, from planning through post-release assessment, resulting in enhanced user ability while overcoming user limitations and fostering user acceptance of the system. Moreover, with clinical care consisting of a series of inter-related processes, clinical systems developers should also focus on supporting the sequential requirements of the underlying tasks and activities by building on prior knowledge and experience both from within the field of user-centered design and from activity-centered design.
“Successful implementation of clinical systems requires teamwork between vendors and clinicians. Clinical information systems make it easy for physicians and nurses to access critical medical information, but because of differences in training and roles, they often use this information for different purposes. This requires clinical information systems that can provide different views of representation of the same information for various roles. In this regard, it is essential to involve clinicians in the entire development process of the system, particularly in the interpretation of paper-based artifacts that are fed into the system,” said Mehmet Bilginsoy, managing director of Turkey and the Middle East at CGM.
“We are constantly faced with many concerns and challenges in our strive to develop IT-based solutions that enhance the delivery of health care services. This requires thorough follow up on latest market trends and updates,” said Thomas Reitmayr, vice president business development at CMG.
Saudi Arabia represents the largest health care market in the GCC region. Active public and private sector investments to establish the country’s health care infrastructure and set up health care facilities like hospitals and clinics to offer comprehensive medical services across the length and breadth of the nation drive this, said Sébastien Dallais, health care field director for the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and France at EMC, a world leader in IT solutions for cloud computing and securing data. “This focus on the health care industry is also expected to work toward enhancing diagnostics and patient care to exceed international standards.”
EMC was present at the event to help health care professionals understand the benefits and practical application of using the latest technologies to transform their IT infrastructure. This would enhance their management of patient records needed to cope with the ever-increasing influx of data, all while improving compliance to regulations.
More than 1,300 delegates from all parts of the Kingdom and 40 local and international exhibitors took part in the two-day exhibition and conference, which concluded in Riyadh yesterday.