Attitude of Staffs Towards the Information Technology Impact on Organizational Strategy of the Hospitals

Abstract

Background: Medical management, a main asset in strategic decision-making, must be based on the use of information and communication technology, till provides strategic services. However, it is not clear how much information technology is helpful in hospitals for their strategies; this is a gap in health care organizations. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the impact of information technology (IT) on organizational strategy in hospitals. Patients and Methods: This study was performed on 325 administrative and medical staff in hospitals affiliated to Semnan university of medical sciences in Iran in 2014. Data were collected by anonymous self-administered, valid, and reliable questionnaires and analyzed by Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Results: About 44.4% of participants reported that IT has been somewhat effective in management decisions, 43.7% reported that information technology has somewhat improved provided services and efficiency of departments. Also, 24.5% of them reported that IT has been very much helpful in costs reduction of departments. Significant relationship was found between education level of the study subjects and their attitudes (P = 0.03). Conclusions: The results showed that the use of information technology in hospitals had several effects on some aspects of organizational strategy such as organizational knowledge, medical economics, and organizational decisions. In order to set up the governance of information technology in health system, it is necessary to involve managers and personnel alike in redesigning information systems and revising operational processes in hospitals.