Current Status of the Adoption, Utilization and Helpfulness of Health Information Systems in Korea

As interest in medical informatization has been increasing steadily worldwide, the adoption of health information systems (HISs) in medical institutions is essential. In this study, we intended to identify users’ adoption, utilization and helpfulness derived from HISs to determine the status of medical informatization by using 2016 Korean Physician Survey data. A total of 8564 members responded to the 2016 survey, we extracted the data of 6949 HISs related part for this study. As a result, about 68% of the self-employed physicians adopted the Order Communication System and Electronic Medical Records, while only one-third adopted the Picture Archiving and Communication System. Overall, the proportions of utilization and helpfulness of HISs were higher for females; for employed physicians or professors; for physicians working in hospitals; and for those specializing in surgical medicine. As applying information technology to the medical environment becomes more important, HIS will become a necessary requirement and the demand for information systems considering user and patient oriented information environments will be increasing. Therefore, it is necessary to discuss the HISs use environment considering not only technical aspects but also users’ or patients’ viewpoints. In that respect, this study will give a meaningful evidence of HIS related policies.