Information systems in hospitals: a review article from a nursing management perspective

Abstract

Information management in hospitals is challenging due to vast amounts of information and a great number of people participating in the organisational functions. Information management plays an important role in the provision of care and it can be improved by information and communication technology. The purpose of this literature review is to describe what information and communication systems are available for nurse managers in hospitals to support their decision-making. Managerial decision-making occurs on strategic, tactical and operational levels. The main findings are that several different information and communication systems have been developed to support nurse managers' information management, however, these systems mostly focus on strategic and tactical decision-making levels without real-time information support, and furthermore, operational decision-making is weakly supported. Also, research evaluating how the existing systems support nurse managers' decision-making is lacking.