Jeffrey Soar

Barriers to use of information and computer technology by Australia's nurses: a national survey

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To support policy planning for health, the barriers to the use of health information and computer technology (ICT) by nurses in Australia were determined. BACKGROUND Australia, in line with many countries, aims to achieve a better quality of care and health outcomes through effective and innovative use of health information. Nurses form the largest component of the health workforce. Successful adoption of ICT by nurses will be a requirement for success. No national study has been undertaken to determine the barriers to adoption. DESIGN A self-administered postal survey was conducted. METHOD A questionnaire was distributed to 10,000 members of the Australian Nursing Federation. Twenty possible barriers to the use of health ICT uptake were offered and responses were given on a five point Likert scale. RESULTS Work demands, access to computers and lack of support were the principal barriers faced by nurses to their adoption of the technology in the workplace. Factors that were considered to present few barriers included age and lack of interest. While age was not considered by the respondents to be a barrier, their age was positively correlated with several barriers, including knowledge and confidence in the use of computers. CONCLUSIONS Results indicate that to use the information and computer technologies being brought into health care fully, barriers that prevent the principal users from embracing those technologies must be addressed. Factors such as the age of the nurse and their level of job must be considered when developing strategies to overcome barriers. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE The findings of the present study provide essential information not only for national government and state health departments but also for local administrators and managers to enable clinical nurses to meet present and future job requirements.

IT infrastructure services as a requirement for e-learning system success

Evaluation of e-learning systems success is an essential process in managing and developing these types of systems. There are still arguments about the factors can be used to evaluate the success of e-learning systems. Inadequate attention has been paid to investigate the role of IT infrastructure services as a foundation to create the success of e-learning systems. The focus of this study is the role of IT infrastructure services in terms of the success of e-learning systems. A model is proposed which includes five constructs: IT infrastructure services; perceived usefulness; user satisfaction; customer value; and organizational value. A quantitative study was conducted at an Australian University, with survey responses from 110 Academic staff members and 720 students who use the e-learning system. The empirical study confirmed that an IT infrastructure services is a valid and reliable construct to measure e-learning systems success. In addition, this study provides evidence of the critical role of IT infrastructure services in the success of e-learning systems via its significant effect on perceived usefulness, user satisfaction, customer value, and organizational value.

Health and aged care enabled by information technology

Abstract:  One of the challenges facing health and welfare policymakers as well as researchers in most developed countries is the increasing demand for aging services and aged care. Low birth rates and rapid increases in the percentages of elderly people make aging and aged care one of the top‐priority issues among the national agenda of many countries. The responses of governments have included initiatives to extend productive working lives and promote self‐funded retirement; to promote healthy, active aging; and to encourage more care to be delivered in home and community settings. Technology will be a major enabler of these strategies. People requiring health services are increasingly being offered more care in their own homes and community settings as an alternative to hospital admission and to delay or avoid moving into institutional care. Research is providing intelligent technology to enable care in the home as well as to monitor safety, security, and quality. Innovation will provide greater independence and better access to care in their own homes for the elderly, sufferers of chronic illness, and persons with disability and reduce the incidence of hospital admissions and the length of stay when admissions do occur. Technologies will support families and professional caregivers and are expected to reduce costs. This paper reports on developments in technology to support care for the aged in home and community settings.

Uptake of telehealth services funded by Medicare in Australia

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to identify the extent to which the Medicare item numbers and incentives, introduced in July 2011, have been effective in stimulating telehealth activity in Australia. METHODS A retrospective descriptive study utilising data on the uptake of telehealth item numbers and associated in-person services, from July 2011 to April 2014, were obtained from Medicare Australia. The main outcome measures were number of telehealth services over time, plus uptake proportionate to in-person services, by jurisdiction, by speciality, and by patient gender. RESULTS Specialist consultations delivered by video communication and rebated by Medicare rose to 6000 per month, which is 0.24% of the total number of specialist consultations. The highest proportional uptake was in geriatrics and psychiatry. In 52% per cent of video consultations the patient was supported by an on-site healthcare provider, most commonly a general practitioner. There were substantial jurisdictional differences. A significantly lower percentage of female patients were rebated for item 99, which is primarily used by surgeons. CONCLUSIONS Medicare rebates and incentives, which are generous by world standards, have resulted in specialist video consultations being provided to underserved areas, although gaps still remain that need new models of care to be developed. WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE TOPIC?: Video consultations have been rebated by Medicare since July 2011 as a means of increasing access to specialist care in rural areas, aged care facilities and Aboriginal health services. WHAT DOES THIS PAPER ADD?: The uptake of this telehealth initiative has grown over time, but still remains low. For half the video consultations the patient was supported by an on-site healthcare provider, most commonly a general practitioner. Geriatrics and psychiatry are the specialties with the highest proportional uptake. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTITIONERS?: New models of care with a greater focus on consultation-liaison with primary care providers need to be developed to realise the potential of this initiative and to fill continuing gaps in services.

Challenges for implementing wireless hand-held technology in health care: views from selected Queensland nurses.

Many health-care providers in Australia are exploring the use of wireless technology to improve service delivery. It appears that the solutions so far have been dictated by the hardware vendors and that the business case is yet to drive the implementations. A focus group discussion was facilitated with eight senior management staff involved in health care in Western Australia. This resulted in a set of challenges, which were used to invite opinions from nursing staff in Queensland. A total of 31 interviews were conducted. The analysis returned a set of 63 themes, which were grouped. These groupings reflected the challenges as lack of user-friendly applications, unreliable technology, substandard testing, shortage of staff, concerns for security, reliance on technology, existing problems, work schedule, training, outdated health policy, coverage of wireless links, confidentiality and lack of awareness. The interviews clearly indicated the need for training and awareness procedures. The present study provides some of the information necessary to realize an enterprise-wide implementation of wireless technology.

Determinants of perceived usefulness of e-learning systems

E-learning systems are increasingly essential in universities, schools, government departments and other organizations that provide an education or training service. The objective for adopting e-learning systems is to provide students with educational services via electronic channels. The focus of this study is on the impact of IT infrastructure services and IT quality on perceptions of usefulness of e-learning systems. A model is proposed which includes five constructs: IT infrastructure services, system quality, information quality, service delivery quality, and perceived usefulness. A quantitative study was conducted at an Australian university with 720 survey responses from students who were enrolled in online courses. The results suggest that IT infrastructure services play a critical role in generating information with high quality, enhancing the aspects of e-learning system quality, and improving service delivery quality. The impact of IT infrastructure services, system quality, and information quality on perceived usefulness is fully mediated by service delivery quality. Universities need to be aware of the critical impact of IT infrastructure services and consider how investment in these services could improve system and information quality, service delivery quality, and the usefulness and success of e-learning systems. A survey is used to examine the determinants of perceived usefulness of e-learning systems.The impact of IT Infrastructure and IT Quality on Perceived Usefulness is tested.The role of service delivery quality as a mediating factor is investigated.IT Infrastructure and Quality as determinants of Perceived Usefulness are confirmed.Service quality was a significant mediating factor to achieve perceived usefulness.

Impact of Cloud computing technology on e-government

Electronic business uses ICT to support its activities. This has positively impacted business performance. Recognizing the successful implementation of e-business, governments have decided to use ICT in public services in order to improve the performance of government organizations in providing best possible information and services to citizens, businesses and other public departments. Computing technologies have grown by leaps and bounds, and governments of all nations plan to make optimum use of such advanced technologies across public service organizations. However, due to financial crises, governments have resorted to cost-cutting, which in turn has resulted in a cap on their ICT budget. As a large-scale facility, e-government requires large monetary investment from the government. Some new inventions in the field of computing technologies have made cost reduction possible, while also increasing the efficiency and flexibility of government sectors. One such invention is cloud computing, which provides information and computing services as utilities. Cloud-based e-government provides the best possible services to its citizens and businesses at an affordable cost. This is because governments do not need to purchase and install ICT equipment on their premises. In this paper we analyse cloud computing and its applications in the context of e-government.

AN ANALYSIS OF THE MAJOR ISSUES FOR SUCCESSFUL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN ARAB COUNTRIES

Purpose – In the history of technology transfer in Arab countries, it is probably true that there has been more failure and disappointment than satisfaction and success in achieving the expected results from the technology transfer agreements. Many complex issues are involved in the consideration of technology transfer in Arab countries. The purpose of this study is to identify, analyse and discuss the major issues for successful information technology (IT) transfer in Arab countries.Design/methodology/approach – A three‐round, non‐anonymous, Delphi‐type survey is designed and connected to understand and explicate major issues from the perceptions of stakeholder groups in Arab countries.Findings – The coding approach and synthesis procedures result in a master set of ten major issues categories for successful IT transfer in Arab countries.Originality/value – This paper serves to focus discussion and promote constructive interaction for the purpose of developing an increasingly sophisticated understanding ...

The potential of e-procurement technology for reducing corruption

This paper discusses a theoretical background for an anti-corruption strategy through the principal-agent theory, and explores the potential of public e-procurement for reducing corruption in public procurement. It explores risk factors of corruption in relation to the roles of government, agent, and briber. The Anti-corruption potential of public e-procurement includes the reduction in monopoly of power, information asymmetry, corruption fees, and corruption services. In the paper we also discuss case study examples from Denmark, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, and the Government of Andhra Pradesh in India. These indicate the potential of e-procurement for greater transparency and efficiency. The discussions suggest that the anti-corruption capabilities of public e-procurement have many benefits, particularly, in terms of enhancing accountability, effectiveness and transparency in government procurement, to combat corruption.

Willingness to adopt e-procurement to reduce corruption Results of the PLS Path modeling

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on research that evaluates the perceived willingness of potential bidders to adopt public e-procurement for the supply of goods and services to the government of Nepal. The authors have identified anti-corruption attributes through an extensive literature review and developed a theoretical model representing the impact of four latent variables, monopoly of power, information asymmetry, trust and transparency and accountability on the dependent variable, the intent-to-adopt e-procurement (ITA). Design/methodology/approach – Data for this research were obtained by the use of a questionnaire survey of bidders who were officially registered with the Government of Nepal. As part of the fieldwork for this research, the first author collected the perceptions of 220 bidders regarding the potential of public e-procurement to reduce corruption in public procurement processes. Findings – The findings suggest that a high level of the ITA has a positive and significant ...