The FINANCIAL — With hospitals across Turkey actively planning a wide range of new IT initiatives, a recent IDC Health Insights survey suggests that IT investments among urban acute care hospitals in the country are being strongly influenced by the need to enable data exchange across healthcare providers and improve compliance with governmental policies and regulations.
Typical drivers relating to organizational growth and efficiency also have important roles to play, but increasing staff satisfaction was rated among the most powerful driving forces behind hospital IT investments, according to International Data Corporation (IDC).
“This latter point may at first be somewhat surprising, but on closer examination it makes a great deal of sense,” said Nino Giguashvili, lead research analyst with IDC Health Insights. “HR-related factors play a truly critical role in healthcare IT market developments in Turkey. Against the competing forces of a fast-growing healthcare sector and an increasing shortage of healthcare workers, motivated staff represents an invaluable asset for healthcare providers in Turkey. We have consistently observed in our research that staff attitudes are key factors determining IT investment decisions at Turkish hospitals, while staff-related constraints – including skills deficits and a resistance to organizational change – are among the strongest barriers to IT innovation,” she added.
IDC’s survey suggests that urban acute care hospitals in Turkey are making solid progress toward digitizing patient medical records and installing core information systems for hospital administration. However, advanced solutions for supporting clinical workflows and integrated hospital solutions are expected to take longer to reach a broad level of adoption. Hospital’s IT investments are expected to increase in the areas of virtualization, mobile solutions, and IT security systems, although IT infrastructure constraints, financial limitations, and a lack of skills are inhibiting the progress, according to IDC.
“Despite the limited sample size, this survey confirms a number of key trends we have observed both anecdotally and through our supply-side research. This is good news for patients, as the results point to advancements in hospital care in Turkey. Still, the most striking developments that we will see in Turkish healthcare will be those around mobility. Mobility seems to be of unparalleled importance among the 3D platform technologies that are expected to permeate Turkey hospitals at an impressive speed over the coming years,” Giguashvili added.
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