Health Information Systems' Support for Management and Changing Work: Survey Study Among Physicians

Abstract

Background: The digitalization of health care has advanced significantly in recent years. Consequently, physicians have needed to increasingly adopt new digital health technologies such as electronic health record systems and other health information systems. Digitalization has changed physicians' clinical work, work environment, management work, and use of tools for leadership. Many physician leaders have been critical of the capabilities of health information systems (HISs) to support leadership, management, and knowledge management.

Objective: We aimed to examine the association between leadership position and perceived changes in clinical work due to digitalization among a nationally representative sample of Finnish physicians and physician leaders. In addition, we examined physician leaders' perceptions of HISs as a support for management and whether their opinions differed based on their perceptions on changes in clinical work due to digitalization.

Methods: Altogether 4630 Finnish physicians (2960/4586, 64% women) responded to a cross-sectional nation-wide web-based survey conducted in spring 2021. Perceptions of improved preventive work, facilitated access to patient information, progressed interprofessional collaboration, and accelerated clinical encounters were used as measures of changes due to digitalization. First, we examined with multivariable logistic regression analyses whether being in a leadership position was associated with perceived changes in work due to digitalization (improved preventive work, facilitated access to patient information, progressed interprofessional collaboration, and accelerated clinical encounters in separate analyses) in the total sample. Second, we examined with analyses of covariance whether the variables related to perceived changes in work due to digitalization were associated with perceived management support from HISs among those who had administrative or management responsibilities (n=817). All analyses were adjusted for gender, age, and sector.

Results: Physician leaders had greater odds of agreeing that digitalization had improved preventive work (odds ratio [OR] 1.62, 95% CI 1.33-1.98), facilitated access to patient information (OR 1.28, 95% CI 1.09-1.51), progressed interprofessional collaboration (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.53-2.14), and accelerated clinical encounters (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.01-1.70) than those in nonleadership positions. Furthermore, leaders who perceived these changes in work due to digitalization positively also considered that health information systems supported their management work.

Conclusions: Physician leaders appeared to view the changes in work due to digitalization more positively than other physicians. In addition, those leaders who perceived these changes positively also perceived that HISs supported their management work. Thus, leaders should thoroughly evaluate and address physicians' perceptions of their routine clinical work and its evolving nature. Doing so ensures access to up-to-date and accurate insights, enabling more effective planning of staffing, training programs, and future implementations. Furthermore, our results show that to guarantee positive views about digitalization among physician leaders, information systems should also support managerial work. This highlights the need to focus on the quality, utility, and usability of information systems.

Keywords: Finland; cross sectional; digitalization; health care digitalization; health information systems; information system; leadership; leadership position; management; monitoring; online survey; patient information; physician leaders; support; survey; work change.