Hospital Information Systems User Needs Analysis: A Vendor Survey

This study was conducted to evaluate the hospital information system (HIS) software based on user requirements in Iran. Through a descriptive study 5 vendors which had the best selling software products among the university hospitals were selected. HIS softwares were evaluated based on checklist and through the observation in 8 hospitals according to defined criteria. SPSS and descriptive statistics were employed to analyze the collected data. Maximum user's expectations were supported by Tarrahan Boali. However, Tarrahan Bali has not efficiently met user expectations in all departments; medical records (74.5%), pharmacy (58.6%), laboratory (74.5%), nursing (23.3%), radiology (51.4%) and financial (65.4%). Minimum user requirements (29%) have been met by Microafzar Qeshm. There was no HIS software to meet the end users expectations in all departments completely. Failure to meet the user expectations among software that addresses all user expectations appropriately could be ascribed to poor user participation and revealed that HIS adoption in Iran is still in infancy. Conducting periodical evaluation; employing a comprehensive tool for HIS evaluation is crucial to ensure their effective implementation and improvement.