Analysis of eHealth systems in Canada and Brazil

Abstract

Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems are a key component of eHealth strategies world wide. These systems require sharing patient data between health care facilities and professionals, following strict quality standards to ensure patient safety and privacy. The success of these systems depends on a range of contextual factors that could alter how users perceive software systems as beneficial or not. In fact, the lack of understanding on how this technology may change the demand of health care services can also hinder system sustainability in the long run. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the contextual factors in play at EHR systems in Canada, which is among the earlier adopters of eHealth in the world. This study will explore, for instance, how software designers have succeeded in addressing such contextual factors within a heterogeneous ecosystem of public and private health information systems in Canada, which is similar to the context observed in Brazil. This research will be carried out at the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation at the University of Toronto, Canada, aiming to draw comparisons and identify future directions for the design of sustainable EHR systems. The candidate will work with experienced practitioners and researchers in Health Informatics as well as health care professionals who use such solutions in practice. Finally, results of this research will also inform the software architecture of the overarching System-of-Systems (SoS) for eHealth, which is the subject of the main research project supported by FAPESP Grant No. 2017/22107-2.