Abstract:
BACKGROUND: According to the World Health Organization, the
use of Electronic Information Sources (EIS) in healthcare is not
merely about application of technology, but it is also a foundation
to provide higher quality clinical care. This study was aimed to
assess Utilization Status of EIS for HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment
in specialized teaching hospitals of Ethiopia, 2016.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: A facility based cross-sectional
study design was used. The study populations were 352 healthcare
professionals selected by using simple random sampling technique
from three randomly selected specialized teaching hospitals of
Ethiopia. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected and
analyzed by fitting multivariate logistic regression model and
thematically by bringing similar themes together respectively.
RESULTS: This study revealed that only 33.2% of the health
professionals used EIS as supporting tool in their clinical practice
including HIV/AIDS care and treatment. The main reasons for not
using EIS were having no training 285(89.9%), followed by
preferring print resources 20(6.3 %). Furthermore, there was
statistically significant association between use of EIS and
perceived electronic information retrieval skills AOR = 3.271, CI
(1.942, 4.051), perceived quality of electronic information content
retrieved AOR= 2.069, CI (1.051, 3.925) and limited access to
computer and internet connection AOR = 5.072, CI (1.834, 5.931).
CONCLUSIONS: In this study, only one-third of health
professionals used EIS as supporting tool in their clinical practice.
Hence, hospital boards should devise strategies to improve
utilization of EIS.
