Effects of Continuous Security Monitoring on Security Controls of Electronic Health Records in Public Hospitals, Tanzania

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of continuous security monitoring on the security of electronic health records in Tanzanian public hospitals. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design and quantitative research approach using a sample of 300 respondents from the six public hospitals in Tanzania. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the main users of EHRs such as medical doctors, IT officers, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory technologists, record officers and administrative officers. A multiple linear regression model was used to evaluate the effects of continuous security monitoring on the security of electronic health records in Tanzanian public hospitals. The findings revealed that continuous security monitoring is a significant predictor of the security of electronic health records in Tanzanian public hospitals, (B= .509, p< 0.001). This implies that, continuous security monitoring explains 50.9% of the variance in security of electronic health records in Tanzanian public hospitals. Based on this finding, is recommended that, to enhance effective security controls in electronic health records, public hospitals in Tanzanian should consider the adoption of continuous security monitoring by making security controls more automated