IT Systems for Collaboration in Healthcare for Frail Elderly People

• The ageing population of the western world poses a medical challenge for society of today and of the future. Frail elderly people are described as multi-diseased and vulnerable patients who are in need of medication and hospital care. These patients require healthcare from several different caregivers within the health services, including hospital-based acute care services, primary care services and community care services. This situation will challenge the capacity of the health services to manage inter-professional collaboration for patient-centered care. The aim of this paper is to identify challenges that caregivers within the health services face in relation to the IT systems that are used in their daily work practice, in their collaborative work and for sharing of information and knowledge. The paper is based on a qualitative study which includes three focus group interviews that were conducted within a healthcare organization in the western part of Sweden. The focus groups consisted of all types of professionals who can be found within each of the included healthcare organizations, as well as representatives of relatives of frail elderly people. Each one of the three focus group interviews conducted lasted for two hours. Afterwards, the interviews were analyzed with thematic analysis. The study identifies challenges within the following themes related to the use of IT systems: insufficient information, incoherent communication, differing uses of IT systems and deficient coordination.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Medie- och kommunikationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik med samhällsvetenskaplig inriktning (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Media and Communications -- Information Systems, Social aspects (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

frail elderly people

healthcare

IT systems

communication

collaboration

coordination

information

technology

sense

Communication; Health; Hospitals; Knowledge management

Informatik

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)