Electronic healthcare applications and programs among healthcare workers in Riyadh and conflict management

Abstract

ObjectiveElectronic healthcare applications and programmes enable the use of computers, networks, and information technology to improve healthcare quality and patient safety, and secure confidential access to health information in order to enable individuals and communities to make the best possible health decisions. We study conflicts challenging users of e-health electronic applications and programmes in Riyadh. MethodsWe use a cross-sectional descriptive design to target all healthcare professionals who interact with e-health applications and programmes. Healthcare providers took a questionnaire survey online. ResultsOf the 169 responses to our questionnaire, 78.1% are female, and 46.2% are aged between 31 and 40 years. As many as 59.2% always use these applications, and 33.7% use them occasionally. Only 7.10% of the participants rarely or never use them. As many as 31.4% recognized that these applications led to conflicts at the workplace. Of these, 50.6%, 13.6%, and 35.8% stated that they caused decision-related, ethical, and other types of conflicts, respectively. ConclusionWe conducted this study among healthcare providers in Riyadh, KSA, and found that the use of e-health applications and programmes encountered some difficulties.