Challenges and Opportunities in Integrating E-health Solutions for Enhanced Healthcare Quality in Saudi Hospitals

Abstract

Recently, the Saudi health sector has made significant strides, and some local hospitals have been recognized internationally. However, this progress has not been matched by the advancement of the e-health field, which has become an essential tool for hospitals to meet certain goals such as improving the quality of healthcare and decreasing the time, and cost of healthcare delivery. This study aimed to investigate the efficacy and efficiency of e-health solutions in Saudi hospitals to enhance the resolution of interoperability issues; the use of strong data security measures, and the trust of patients in Saudi healthcare inter alia impact of the Integrating E-health solutions to enhance the healthcare quality in Saudi hospitals. For building the base, we used a review of the existing studies from Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, PubMed, and Science Direct. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire administered by the researchers from a small sample in the Qassim region healthcare institutions. The sample size was 197 following Krejice and Morgan’s criteria. The study identified a positive and significant association between all the variables therefore our hypotheses have been substantiated. Similarly, the study finds a significant impact of Integrated E-health solutions in enhancing the healthcare quality in Saudi hospitals as it reported that SHQ explained 31.7% variance on the enhancement of IHS in Saudi healthcare and Goodness of fit F= 387.312 also found significance at p< 0.000. Though the study was taken only Qassim region where the sample size was limited so results could be generalized however, future researchers are required to conduct similar studies with larger sample sizes including more regions to build a powerful theory for knowledge and practice.