e-Health systems adoption and telemedicine readiness: practitioner perspective from Libyan healthcare sector

Abstract

Healthcare service providers have reasons to consider e-Health systems and Telemedicine solutions when determining the best practices for healthcare provision in developing countries. The focus of this research is to inspect the readiness to adopt eHealth systems at an organisational level in Libya and utilise Telemedicine technologies in order to provide healthcare to service users. The main application is monitoring chronic (ongoing) health conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and also for patients following strokes and paralysis, regardless of where they are. This research highlights that the success of Telemedicine adoption could be influenced by various health-specific organisational factors including organisational capabilities and resources. This research aims to provide a model to assess the e-Health systems and Telemedicine readiness in Libya from the healthcare providers’ perspective. This research employed a questionnaire-based survey targeting mainly Libyan clinicians and healthcare staff who are on training programmes and studying for further education in the UK and who have been healthcare providers in Libya. 161 participants responded to the questionnaire with a rate of 31% and the data was analysed using SPSS statistic software (V.20). This research has found that various organisational factors have an impact on Telemedicine adoption and thus on the implementation of such technology including Healthcare Provider (HP) HR, IT infrastructure, technology ease of use and healthcare providers’ perspective. In the regression analysis, it was found that Telemedicine Readiness [influenced by Telemedicine Ease of Use, HP IT Infrastructure and HP HR Capability (p < 0.001, R2= 0.472)], Telemedicine Outcome Expectations [influenced by HP User Expectations and HP HR Capability (p < 0.001, R2= 0.522)] and HP Operational Capability [influenced by HP User Expectations, Telemedicine Ease of Use, HP Learning Capabilities and HP IT Infrastructure (p < 0.001, R2= 0.353)] have a positive significant impact on Telemedicine Adoption (p < 0.001, R2= 0.477). These findings indicate that in order to adopt Telemedicine technologies in healthcare establishments, the focus should be on human resources’ capabilities and the first line staff such as clinicians and nurses with consideration to their involvement in project plans ensuring that the introduced Telemedicine technologies’ compatibility with their routine practices would not be affected and the technology should be easy to use.