E-Health technological barriers faced by Iraqi healthcare institutions

Issue title: Machine Learning Based Computational Bioinformatics for Healthcare Big Data

Guest editors: Muhammad Attique Khan, Gaurav Dhiman and Sathishkumar VE

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Ali, Saif Mohammed^a | Burhanuddin, M.A.^b | Yaseen, Ali Taha^a | Jaber, Mustafa Musa^{c; d; *} | Jassim, Mustafa Mohammed^e | Ali, Aseel Mohammed^f | Alkhayyat, Ahmed^g | Mohammed, Mohammed A.^h | Mohamad, Auday A.H.ⁱ

Affiliations: [a] Computer Science Department, Dijlah University Collage, Baghdad, Iraq | [b] Faculty of Information and Communication Technology, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia | [c] Department of Medical Instruments Engineering Techniques, Al-Turath University College, Baghdad, Iraq | [d] Informatics Institute for Postgraduate Studies, Iraqi Commission for Computers and Informatics, Baghdad, Iraq | [e] Department of Medical Instruments Engineering Techniques, Al-Farahidi University, Baghdad, Iraq | [f] Deputy President Office, University of Bagdad, Baghdad, Iraq | [g] College of Technical Engineering, The Islamic University, Najaf, Iraq | [h] Department of Medical Instruments Engineering Techniques, Al-Mustaqbal University College, Babylon, Iraq | [i] Department of Medical Instruments Engineering Techniques, The University of Mashreq, Baghdad, Iraq

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author: Mustafa Musa Jaber, Department of Medical Instruments Engineering Techniques, Al-Turath University College, Baghdad, Iraq. E-mails: Mustafa.jaber@turath.edu.iq and mustafa_jaber67@outlook.com.

Abstract: The health records management issues have detrimentally affected the Iraqi healthcare sector resultant from the inferior information technology integrity and the complicatedness of data. In order to resolve this problem, other methods of storage, management, and retrieval of health-related data can be offered by e-Health services. These aspects are important in tracking patients’ health conditions using multiple platforms at the service provider’s own convenience. However, there are numerous issues that hinder the extensive adoption of e-Health services by the health establishments in Iraq, such as issues on security and privacy, legalities connected to policies, and its implementation. The significance of the current study is its identification of the crucial aspects that will lead to the success of impacting the technical staff towards their positive acceptance and behavior with regard to the employment of e-Health information system in Iraqi hospitals. A self-administered survey was carried out on 104 technical staff from various healthcare organizations in Iraq using a simple random sampling technique. A nonparametric second-generation multivariate analysis was conducted on the compiled ordinal data by the utilization of the PLS-SEM approach. The outcomes indicated the favorable impact of several factors on the doctor’s employment of e-Health in Iraqi hospitals, comprising Availability and Affordability of the hardware and software, ICT Support Service, Network Reliability, Privacy, and Security. The results are important in assisting the comprehension of e-Health systems in the management of health data, in addition to the provision of the pertinent recommendations for policymakers to provide guidance, issue advice, directives to the healthcare professionals toward the continuous consideration of using advance information and communications technology at work.

Keywords: e-Health, e-Health readiness, e-Healthcare, Iraqi e-Health, e-readiness

DOI: 10.3233/IDA-237438

Journal: Intelligent Data Analysis, vol. 27, no. S1, pp. 115-135, 2023