Abstract
Information system of most hospitals in Thailand have increasingly been computerized mainly to improve administrative works without adequate concerns about quality of care. This study aims to explore major issues related with the use of computerized information system in hospital and quality of care. There were 4 phases: literature review, hospital survey, stakeholder analysis, as well as in-depth analysis of some famous systems. It was found that information system in at least 80% of the hospitals, especially private and large public hospitals were already computerized. Report production for various health insurance systems was the major reason. At least 44 different systems were available in Thailand without appropriate and effective information exchange mechanism both nationally and locally. IT-related investments by hospitals were found to be quite large despite the lack of evidence to prove their return. In addition, many problems including IT-related clinical risks were not efficiently taken care of. Nationally, the most important problem was hospital readiness, especially the inadequacy and poor competency of IT-related healthcare personnel. Moreover, the inefficiency of cooperation among central organizations forced most hospitals to solve major problems with their limited resource and comprehension.
