Identifying Barriers to the Adoption of Information Communication Technology in Ethiopian Healthcare Systems. A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND: Ethiopia’s government has planned to digitize the healthcare industry. However, most implementations fail due to various technological and personnel barriers. As a result, this systematic review aimed to comprehensively examine evidence regarding the barriers to adopting information communication technology in the Ethiopian healthcare system. METHODS: This systematic review was conducted by searching the major databases, such as Medline, PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, Google, Google Scholar, and other online databases. The authors looked for, analyzed, and summarized information about barriers to ICT adoption in the healthcare system. This study included nine articles that described barriers to ICT adoption in the Ethiopian healthcare system. RESULTS: This systematic review identified 15 barriers to adopting ICT in the healthcare system. The reviewed articles looked into technological barriers to ICT adoption, such as ICT skill, ICT knowledge, a lack of training opportunities, a lack of computer literacy, a lack of computer access, inadequate internet connectivity, and a lack of experience with ICT were cited as barriers to ICT implementation in Ethiopia’s healthcare system. Furthermore, organizational components such as Lack of job satisfaction, Lack of Refreshment training, poor staff initiation, management problem, poor infrastructure, and lack of resources remained barriers to ICT adoption in Ethiopia’s healthcare system. CONCLUSION: This review confirmed that lack of training in ICT, poor ICT knowledge, Poor ICT skill, and a lack of computer access were the most common barriers to adopting ICT in the Ethiopian healthcare system. Therefore, it is recommended that the emphasized barriers to ICT adoption be addressed in order to modernize the current Ethiopian healthcare system.