Study On The Synthetical Evaluation System And Empirical Research Of Hospital Informationization Level In China

Objective:To develop a comprehensive evaluation model and evaluation methods to evaluate the informatization level of hospital in China.Methods:Subject to the supervision of "An Investigation on the Status and Developing Strategies of Chinese hospital informatization"(a research project of Ministry of Health of the PRC,project managers are Fu zheng and Li Baoluo).During this research,related literature had been extensively reviewed,related instruments developed domestic and abroad already had been consulted,suggestions from experts had been considered,particularities of hospital informatizatoin had been considered before the initial evaluation model formed.Selection items and calculation the weights of indexes had based on experts' suggestions and comprehensive scoring method.Finally,a rating scale for hospital informatization level evaluation formed,with the stratified random sampling method,1136 hospitals were recruited in the study,only hospitals in cities and have gotten degree 2 or 3 included.The reliability and validity of the evaluation model were also tested.Results:(1)57 items were retained.The evaluation model consisted of 6 dimensionalities which were attaching importance to HIT,IT Infrastructure,IT application,human resource and information resource, IT security,IT performance.(2)Reliability and Validity ①Internal consistency is good,Cronbach'sαcoefficients of all dimensions are more than 0.60,some of them are even more than 0.8;②Split-halves reliability is 0.95;③Content validity is good,because this research was based on experts suggestions and it was recognized by informants also;④Construct validity is good,factor analysis conform to logic relation,and the cumulative variance ranged between 45.3%--67.5%;⑤Discriminant validity is good,the evaluation model can be used to relatively accurately distinguish different types of hospitals.(3)Empirical ResearchIn general,Chinese hospital informatization level is low,and the informatization level of hospitals in the east is higher than which in the west,and there is obvious difference between different types of hospitals. But it has relation to economic horizontal span.Among 6 dimensionalities been evaluated,most of hospitals seemed to attach importance to HIT,but the level of IT Infrastructure,IT application, human resource and information resource,IT security,and IT performance is low.The level of IT application is the lowest.Among 1136 samples,only 20.60%of them can be considered best, 38.64%of them is better,16.20%of them is middle,15.23%of them is worse,and 9.33%of them is worst.Conclusions:(1)The evaluation model and rating scale is reliable,valid and sensitive,and it can be used to evaluate hospital informatization level at larger scope.(2)In a word,the informatization level of Chinese hospitals is low. Hospital informatization level has relation to economic horizontal span in China.There is obviously difference between different types of hospitals on information level.(3)Among 6 dimensionalities been evaluated,most of hospitals seemed to attach importance to HIT,but the investment in IT Infrastructure and IT security is very limited.Human resource and information resource are also not enough to hospitals.The inefficient IT performance is the best evidence.Among all of 6 dimensionalities,IT application is the key to hospital informatization.