Factors influencing adoption of eHealth technologies in Ghana

Abstract

This study covers factors influencing the adoption of electronic health (eHealth) technologies in Ghana. The study was designed as a quantitative survey with questionnaire as the main method of data gathering. A total of 1640 questionnaires were administered to users and potential users of eHealth technologies in both public and private healthcare centres in Ghana. The study concludes that institutional characteristics and healthcare manager characteristics have a high influence on eHealth adoption. However, factors related to performance expectancy and effort expectancy only have low influence on the adoption of eHealth devices and systems. Accordingly, the study makes recommendations to policymakers for improving eHealth adoption in the health sector.

Barriers and Facilitators of eHealth Adoption among Patients in Uganda – A Quantitative Study

“…But Kassim [55] study stresses that the ease of use is associated with increase in user satisfaction and trust in the system. In a study conducted in Ghana [56], ease of use and perceived usefulness had the strongest influence on eHealth adoption than any other factors. Likewise, other studies [57] have underscored the relative importance of ease of use in influencing eHealth adoption.…”

Galvanizing Action on Primary Health Care: Analyzing Bottlenecks and Strategies to Strengthen Community Health Systems in West and Central Africa

“…In addition, Ghana moved forward with the roll-out of eHealth. 60 , 61 Additional efforts should be done to develop and train PHC staff, including CHWs, on standard operating procedures for data management and use. Although eHealth has the ability to positively influence the quality of health care and improve health services, there are a number of challenges to its adoption.…”

“…Although eHealth has the ability to positively influence the quality of health care and improve health services, there are a number of challenges to its adoption. 60 Constraints to the adoption of eHealth in Africa include the low ICT budgets, poor infrastructure in support of health services, erratic electricity supply, and inadequate human resource capacity. 60 , 62 The private sector's involvement in spearheading an eHealth revolution within the subregion could be an immense benefit to alleviating the burden on governments and their inadequacy.…”

“… 60 , 62 The private sector's involvement in spearheading an eHealth revolution within the subregion could be an immense benefit to alleviating the burden on governments and their inadequacy. 60 …”

Unintended consequences of technology-enabled work activities experienced by healthcare professionals in tertiary hospitals of sub-Saharan Africa

“…In the healthcare context, undesirable unintended consequences are prominent as data duplication errors during decision-making; intermittent system delays and workflow interruptions (Gagnon et al 2016;DeWane, Waldman, and Waldman 2019). For example, a delay in the process to digitize records where paper is still being largely used could influence doctors to resist a system and resolve to rather employ alternative means to store and retrieve patient information especially during emergency cases (Tokosi 2017;Kesse-tachi, Asmah, and Agbozo 2019). Also, there are studies that highlight distractions caused by use of smartphones by doctors particularly because it blurs the line between personal and professional spaces (Kabanda and Rother 2019;Yahya 2019).…”