Challenges to healthcare information systems development: The case of Jordan

ABSTRACT

This paper investigates the perception of healthcare providers in regard to the challenges that hinder the development of e-health initiative in Jordan based on a classification of challenges that was developed from the pre-existing literature. Twenty-six semi-structured interviews were conducted with various stakeholders of the e-health system. These challenges are Lack of Regulations and Policies to Support Health Information Systems, lack of financial resources, Privacy Concerns, and Nature of Healthcare Sector. The paper concludes that all of the unique findings that emerged in this paper are directly related to human and cultural issues. These two aspects appear to have a huge impact on the development of the e-health in Jordan. In order to ensure a smooth transformation of health services delivery and as an outcome and contribution of this paper to the managers and decision makers in the healthcare sector, a few findings were highlighted and could be of great value to people in charge of e-health initiatives these include: proper laws and policies that support the e-health development, secure the necessary needed funds, addressing privacy concerns of stakeholders, and standardization of e-health development. This paper serves as one of the newest interpretive studies that empirically explore the challenges to e-health in Jordan. It also attempts to bridge the gap found in the existing literature as it investigates the key issues that affect the development of e-health in Jordan from a different angle that was not adequately looked at and discussed previously.

KEYWORDS:

• E-health
• health information systems
• barriers
• challenges
• recommendations
• healthcare sector
• developing countries
• Jordan

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yaser Jalghoum

Yaser Jalghoum (e-mail: [email protected]) is Business Operation Project Manager at The University of Texas, MD Anderson Houston, Texas-USA. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in accounting from Tampa College/Everest University, Tampa, Florida-USA, followed by a Master of E-Business from the University of Huddersfield-UK, and a Ph.D. in Business and Management, focusing on the Management of Science, Technology and Innovation from the University of Manchester-UK. His work has been published in several international journals. His research interests include Innovations and Technology, E-Health, E-Business, E-Government, E-Learning, E-Commerce, E-Banking, Leadership, Human Resources Management, Organizational Behavior, Change Management, Empowerment, Social Media, Business Strategy, ICTs in Developing Countries, and Management Information System (MIS).

Asem Tahtamouni

Asem Tahtamouni (e-mail: [email protected]) holds Bachelor’s in Accounting (Jordan, 2006), Master of Commerce (Accounting) (Australia, 2008) and Ph.D. in Financial Risk Management (Australia, 2015). He worked in different companies in Jordan and Australia (the main duties included: external and internal auditing, accounting, business researching, consulting, sales and supervisory assistant). He is currently working at the American University of Madaba (Jordan) as an Assistant Professor and Head of Banking and Finance Department. He attended many academic courses, conferences and has many academic positions as well as has many published papers in international academic journals.

Sahar Khasawneh

Sahar Khasawneh (e-mail: [email protected]) is an Assistant Professor. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Computing Information Systems from Jordan University of Science and Technology-Jordan, followed by a Master degree in E-Business from the University of Huddersfield-UK, and a Ph.D. in Informatics from the University of Manchester-UK. Her research has been published reputable peer-reviewed journals.

Amro Al-Madadha

Amro Al-Madadha (e-mail: [email protected]) holds a Ph.D in Management from Cardiff Metropolitan University – United Kingdom, he holds MBA from New York Institute of Technology. He pursued B.Sc. in Banking Management from Hashemite University. Currently, Dr. Al-Madadha teaches is at Princess Sumaya University for Technology, and he is the head of the Business Administration Department, Amro’s research focuses on human resource management, empowerment, leadership, creativity, his research has been published at several international journals.