Emmanuel Kusi Achampong

Background: Globally, digital health holds immense potential for transforming health-care delivery and improving patient outcomes, including enhanced care, increased mobility of records, reduced costs, and efficient recordkeeping. In this study, the authors sought to explore the challenges associated with the use of the electronic health record (EHR) Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) for health service delivery in Ghana. Methods: The authors used a nonprobability purposive sampling technique (expert sampling) to sample 30 unit heads from the study population. Results: The software challenges included inconsistency in report generation and a lack of standardization in system features, functions, and data capturing. The EHR (LHIMS) is also dependent on computer devices, and inadequate or malfunctioning devices pose a challenge to its effectiveness. Power interruptions can disrupt the work process and even affect patient outcomes. Conclusions: The challenges associated with the use of the EHR (LHIMS) in Ghana are issues that could have been resolved at the beginning of the implementation of the EHR if all the players had been involved in the process.

Background: Satisfaction with a given Electronic Health Record (EHR) system has become an important topic in healthcare. As healthcare providers increasingly rely on EHRs to manage patient care, their satisfaction with the system significantly impacts their quality of care. This study analyzed the satisfaction of health professionals who use the EHR called Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS; Lightwave eHealthcare Solutions, Ghana) for healthcare delivery. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used for this study. The study employed the stratified probability sampling method. Descriptive statistics were computed to determine the weighted mean score for all the indicators under efficiency. Also, bivariate (chi-square) and multivariate (ordinal logistic regression) analyses were conducted to test the study’s hypotheses. Results: Factors such as educational qualification, work experience, training status, duration of the training, and computer efficacy significantly affected health professionals’ satisfaction with LHIMS. Sex and age of health professionals did not affect satisfaction levels with LHIMS. Conclusions: Based on the results of this study, health professional participants were satisfied with aspects of LHIMS such as flexibility and consistency, which increases the speed of task execution and enables them to easily retrieve accurate information. Results suggested that training, while necessary, must be tailored to individual user needs. Digital literacy also played a pivotal role in ensuring effective EHR use, with advanced users reporting greater satisfaction.

The success of an electronic health records (EHR) system is dependent on the effectiveness, satisfaction, and efficient use of these systems by health professionals. This paper explores the interdependency among effectiveness, satisfaction, and efficient use of Lightwave Health Information Management Systems (LHIMS) which is an EHR by health professionals. A non-interventional descriptive cross-sectional study design was employed for this research. The study used stratified random sampling for the selection of participants. The population for the study was all the health professionals in the Central Region of Ghana. The number of health professionals who responded to the questions was 1126. The findings suggest that understanding the interdependency of efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction is crucial for the successful implementation and adoption of LHIMS in healthcare organisations. The study investigated the interdependence among effectiveness, satisfaction, and efficient use of the LHIMS by health professionals, and found a positive but weak significant relationship between these factors. In conclusion, this study aimed to assess the interdependency among effectiveness, satisfaction, and efficient use of LHIMS by health professionals. The. results support a positive but weak significant relationship between satisfaction, effectiveness, and efficient use of the LHIMS. These findings have implications for policymakers and hospital management in their efforts to improve the use of LHIMS. Policymakers can focus on any one of the three usability areas to enhance LHIMS use, with visible effects across the other two domains.

Objectives: The use of technology in healthcare to manage patient records, guide diagnosis, and make referrals is termed electronic healthcare. An electronic health record system called Lightwave Health Information Management System (LHIMS) was implemented in 2018 at Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTH). This study evaluated the impact of LHIMS on the quality of healthcare data at CCTH, focusing on the extent to which its use has enhanced the main dimensions of data quality.Methods: Structured questionnaires were administered to doctors at CCTH to enquire about their opinions about the present state of LHIMS as measured against the parameters of interest in this study, mainly the dimensions of quality healthcare data and the specific issues plaguing the system as reported by respondents.Results: Most doctors found LHIMS convenient to use, mainly because it made access to patient records easier and had to some extent improved the dimensions of quality healthcare data, except for comprehensiveness, at CCTH. Major challenges that impeded the smooth running of the system were erratic power supply, inadequate logistics and technological drive, and poor internet connectivity.Conclusions: LHIMS must be upgraded to include more decision support systems and additional add-ons such as patients’ radiological reports, and laboratory results must be readily available on LHIMS to make patient health data more comprehensive.

Introduction: In the pursuit of improving effective health service delivery, developing nations including Ghana are progressively integrating electronic health record systems into healthcare frameworks. This research explored the proficient utilization of an EHR called the Lightwave Health Information Management System used by healthcare professionals in Ghana.Material and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design and a multi-stage sampling technique (stratified and simple random sampling) were used to recruit 1126 respondents for this study. Weighted averages were computed to determine scores for all the indicators measuring the effectiveness construct.Results: The study found that LHIMS improved productivity, patient data gathering, sharing of patient information among service providers, care continuity, data exchange among facilities, decision-making, and coordination/organization of care. Also, health professionals’ work experience, educational qualification, and training status were statistically significant predictors of effective use of the LHIMS at the multivariate level. Age and professional type were statistically significant only at the bivariate level.Conclusion: The study concludes that incorporating the LHIMS improves healthcare professionals' effectiveness in gathering patient information while reducing the likelihood of errors by promptly notifying them of any inaccuracies. The study emphasized the importance of training for effectively using the LHIMS.

Artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare has enormous potential for transforming healthcare. AI is the ability of machines to learn and exhibit close to human levels of cognition in various specific ways. Leveraging AI software to support activities will improve patient satisfaction which is inextricably tied to the length of time patients spend in waiting queues. Literature searches were conducted in PubMed, Research Gate, BMC Health Services Research, JMIR Publications and Cochrane Central to find related documentation that was published between January 2011 and April 2021. The studies featured and reported on AI technologies that had been used in primary, secondary, or tertiary healthcare situations directed towards reducing waiting times. A total of 22 articles were primarily used, including 8 retrospective studies, 4 prospective studies and 3 case-control studies. AI technologies have enormous potential in the creation of a future with more reliable healthcare systems. It is however clear that more studies in the field are required to validate the existing evidence of its potential. AI in healthcare is crucial to reducing patients' time at healthcare facilities. The use of AI can also help improve patient outcomes and more research should be geared toward that.

Background: In achieving the WHO’s Universal Health Coverage and the Global Developmental Agenda: Sustainable Development Goal 3 and 9, the Ministry of Health launched a nationwide deployment of the lightwave health information management system (LHIMS) in the Central Region to facilitate health service delivery. This paper assessed the efficient use of the LHIMS among health professionals in the Central Region. Methods: A non-interventional descriptive cross-sectional study design was employed for this research. The study used stratified and simple random sampling for selecting 1126 study respondents from 10 health facilities that use the LHIMS. The respondents included prescribers, nurses, midwives and auxiliary staff. Descriptive statistics (weighted mean) was computed to determine the average weighted score for all the indicators under efficiency. Also, bivariate (χ²) and multivariate (ordinal logistic regression) analyses were conducted to test the study’s hypotheses. Results: Findings revealed that the LHIMS enhanced efficient health service delivery. From the bivariate analysis, external factors; sex, educational qualification, work experience, profession type and computer literacy were associated with the efficient use of the LHIMS. However, training offered prior to the use of the LHIMS, and the duration of training had no association. At the multivariate level, only work experience and computer literacy significantly influenced the efficient use of the LHIMS. Conclusion: The implementation of LHIMS has the potential to significantly improve health service delivery. General computing skills should be offered to system users by the Ministry of Health to improve literacy in the use of computers. Active participation in the use of LHIMS by all relevant healthcare professionals should be encouraged.

UNSTRUCTURED The electronic health record (EHR) is a historically made, utilized, and archived electronic version of a paper graph of a patient's health record. A healthcare entity creates, controls, and maintains a patient's electronic health record. Only health professionals involved in a patient's care can access and utilize an electronic health record. The study's goal is to evaluate the impact of electronic health records on quality healthcare at Saint Gregory Catholic Hospital. The study adopted an explanatory research design and quantitative research approach in which simple random and convenient sampling technique were used to select ninety-two respondents from Saint Gregory Catholic Hospital. The study used structured questionnaires as a tool for data collection. The study found that health professionals at Saint Gregory Catholic Hospital have a good intention on the use of electronic health records. Again, it was discovered that there is a positive and statistically significant effect of electronic health records on quality healthcare.

The coronavirus pandemic is the greatest crisis of our time, having claimed over 2 million lives and shocking the global economy. Scientists and governments have suggested the idea of a digital COVID-19 certificate, to identify vaccinated persons easily. This paper assesses the positions of stakeholders on COVID-19 vaccination certificates, their presentation, and their importance. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) was applied in this study. Search terms with Boolean and/or operators were combined to increase relevant results. Four large digital databases were used for the search. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to screen 298 collated studies. Two reviewers independently assessed search results, extracted data, and assessed the quality of the included studies. It is essential to re-examine digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates, considering their benefits, such as real-time detection of fake vaccination certificates and identifying and mapping non-vaccinated areas for strategic vaccination planning. The use of a single electronic platform globally will ease verification processes while bringing economies back to their feet. Digital COVID-19 vaccination certificates may provide balance in this pandemic era. With digital COVID-19 certificate exceeding documentation purposes, it is important to recognise factors such as global economy and human rights, boosting free movements of persons.

There are several pieces of evidence to prove that electronic health records (EHRs) can improve the quality of service, efficiency, safety, and positive patient outcomes. Past decades have seen rapid growth in EHR system implementation in healthcare institutions in developing countries. Effective implementation of EHR system provides a unique opportunity to collect a wide range of patient data to support health tracking over a time period. This study seeks to make a case as to why despite some EHR system implementations in Ghana, there has not been any significant improvement in patient outcomes. This research is not a systematic review but assesses the implementation challenges of EHRs in Ghana. Several papers were identified by searching through some databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, and Medline, using the following topics: EHR implementation, EHR implementation challenges, and EHR system implementation and EHR challenges in Ghana. The approach to the implementation of EHR system largely depends on the country dynamics and does not necessarily follow top-down or bottom-up methods. The focus should also be on the institution and whether they have the resources to make the project implementation successful. End-users should be an integral part of the whole implementation process, and their recommendations should be followed and implemented.