Electronic Health Record System: A Survey in Ghanaian Hospitals

Abstract

Developing countries are slow adopters of new technologies, particularly with regards to the health services of these countries. This study explores the data collection and management challenges in four Ghanaian hospitals using a survey study approach and proposes implementing an Electronic Health Record (EHR) system as a solution to these challenges. Some challenges that would impede the implementation of EHR in a Ghanaian hospital are the initial huge start up costs, poor computer skills of healthcare professionals, poor maintenance culture, and lack of policy to spearhead the implementation of the system. The weak state of information infrastructure at the hospitals is another challenge in an EHR implementation. EHR could potentially reduce waiting times for patients, reduce the cost of the hospital‘s operations, improve interdepartmental communication and collaboration, provide opportunity for sharing best practices among physicians within Ghanaian hospitals, and enhance better resource allocation. The data an EHR could primarily capture would be patients‘demographics, care plans, laboratory results, billing and NHIS claims information.