Computerized Information System in Hospitals in Thailand: A National Survey (การสำรวจการใช้ระบบสารสนเทศแบบคอมพิวเตอร์ในโรงพยาบาลในประเทศไทย)

This national survey was aimed to explore current situations and trends of the use andinvestment of computerized information system in hospitals in Thailand. During July - September2004, a standardized questionnaire was sent to all hospitals by post and/or e-mail. At least 2 hospitalrepresentatives were asked to answer the questionnaire. A telephone follow-up call was made about2 weeks afterward. The response rate was 38.68 percent which accounting for 504 hospitals. It wasfound that the information system of 88.49 percent of the hospitals had been computerized. Themajor applications were in improving administrative works, especially reimbursement calculation,and reporting. Cost, lacking of personnal, as well as limited supporting system hampered its fulldevelopment. There was no regulating machanism for the selection and implementation of computerizedinformation system. Hospitals had been depending on their own judgement and financialcapacity to choose a system from currently available 44 alternatives. The most popularly usedcomputer programs were “Stat/Dispense” (17%), “MitNet” (9%), self-developed systems (8%),“Hospital Information (HI)” (5%), and “Thiades” (4%). At least 1,235 million baht have beeninvested in hospital computerization for hardware (844 million baht), software (238 million baht),and peopleware (254 million baht). The mean and median investments on the system per hospitalwere 3.87 and 1.58 million baht, respectively, with increasing trends in recent years. Key words : computerized information system, survey, investment