Conclusions
It is generally accepted that information system usage in hospitals offers great
opportunities for development as regards improvement in the quality of services
provided to patients and increased effectiveness and efficiency of personnel as well as
considerable reductions in organizational expenses (Bates et al., 2001). Therefore, a
strict evaluation is necessary for managers and future users of HIS.
The efficient utilization of limited resources to increase total social prosperity is
obligatory, since it is obvious that methods of economic evaluation contribute
considerably to a rational choice amongst alternative programs or ways of action.
However, usage of this method for the evaluation of information systems is not
advisable at present, because:
. direct results are needed for further development of information in the specific
field; and
. existing systems are not probably able to supply a relevant study with the
necessary data.
According to our literature review, the method of evaluation based on system usage is
a valid way to measure the success of an information system. Interpretation of people’s
attitudes towards acceptance or information usage is today regarded as a significant
field of research in relation to information systems. Various researchers have
thoroughly studied the ways in which and the reasons why people accept IT. The
purpose of these studies is to explain, predict, and finally increase of the acceptance
degree of information systems in the workplace. In the majority of the relevant models
suggested, information usage constitutes a dependent variable while outlook (e.g.
usage) is predicted through intention, which is considered to be a clue towards people’s
readiness to adopt a certain attitude and a precursor of the attitude finally adopted.
To summarize, measurement of user satisfaction with information systems may be
the most effective evaluation method in comparison with the rest of the methods
presented. Additionally, it has to be stressed that methods apart from the measurement
of user satisfaction presuppose a knowledge of elements from different system usage
eras or even elements before the system has been used, so as to form reliable
comparisons and analogous conclusions as for the degree of success of an information
system. In case that elements of such types are not available, so what can be used is
indirect success measures of systems that intend to determine user satisfaction.
End-user satisfaction relates to correct system usage, which is connected to high
user efficiency and also the efficiency of the organization (DeLone and McLean, 1992;
Grover et al., 1996). Nonetheless, user satisfaction must be regarded as a sign of
information system acceptance rather than a measure for the efficiency of
organizations. This is because organizational measures of effectiveness focus on
genuine results, whereas user satisfaction focuses on the process. Consequently,
end-user satisfaction is likely to be more useful in identifying serious problems during
the application or the process of system usage than evaluating the organizational
outcomes produced (Salmela and Turunen, 1997).