Medical Records, eHealth and Health IT: What Are the Key Points for the Organizational Benefits and for the Improvements of the Modern Local Health Organisations?

Abstract

The introduction of technology in complex organization is not simple. Although we are provided with technologically advanced tools, the implementation of systems in complex organizations has not always led to the expected results. The problem must be tackled from different points of view; it is not a technological issue: today technology offers a broad spectrum of solutions which in theory appear to be extremely satisfactory, but in practice the implementation suffers from serious problems. ERPs in the health context, telemedicine devices and eHealth solutions are issues theoretically interesting and useful, but not always fully exploited. Current developments in ICT offer great opportunities for the use and the development of medical informatics in several medical domains, but physician’s expectations often differ from reality and this leads to disaffection. It is necessary to address several issues, not only technological but also social, and to engage even doctors and all the stakeholders in all the phases of implementation. Errors and failures in this field often do not derive from a wrong technological solution but from the incorrect implementation. It must be then taken into account that in addition to traditional ICT solutions in healthcare, it is necessary to integrate innovative solutions (deriving from the Internet world: the eHealth solutions).