Nurses’ perceptions of the clinical information system in primary healthcare centres in Qatar: a cross-sectional survey

BACKGROUND: Qatar is one of the fastest growing countries in the Arabic region. Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC) is the main provider of primary health services in Qatar and employs 1600 nurses. In 2014, PHCC started to migrate from paper to electronic documentation of patient records using a clinical information system (CIS). Since implementation, the use of CIS and perception of users have not been assessed. OBJECTIVE: This study measured nurses’ perceptions regarding the utilisation, quality and user satisfaction with the CIS in PHCC. METHODS: Using a pre-existing survey, a cross-section of nurses from six health centres in Qatar were systematically selected and invited to participate in the study. Eighty-nine surveys were completed (response rate: 98.8%) and descriptive analyses were performed. RESULTS: Nurses’ perceptions regarding the utilisation, quality and user satisfaction with the CIS were positive. Nurses indicated that the CIS is a resource for clear, accurate and up-to-date data and that their performance improved due to the CIS. Yet responses to an open-ended question in the survey revealed some concerns related to the CIS, such as patient confidentiality, system downtime and time constraints. CONCLUSION: Ensuring that the CIS is facilitating nurses’ work is crucial to guarantee high-quality care to the community. The findings provide foundational data to help PHCC to understand nurses’ perceptions and to take steps to overcome challenges that nurses face related to the CIS in their daily practice. This work could also provide direction for future research.