Abstract:
Introduction: Health information management is one of the major pillars in a health system that
improves the effectiveness and efficiency of health services. It is essential to assess the patient
perception towards re-engineered services provide through Hospital Information Management Systems
(HIMSs) and how this implementation affects the doctor-patient relationship. The objective of the study
was to describe the extent of patient satisfaction towards Out-Patient Department (OPD) services,
pharmacy service and patient-physician relationship in the OPD, re-engineered through a HIMS, at the
Castle Street Hospital for Women (CSHW), Sri Lanka. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study
was carried out among 362 out-patients aged over 18 years attending the OPD of the CSHW during
2018-2019. Consecutive sampling method, and an interviewer-administrated questionnaire were used
to collect data. The quantitative analysis was done using the SPSS software version 23. The sentiment
analysis was performed to analyze comments given by patients using the Rapid Miner software.
Results: All participants were females with a mean age of 41years (±13.58). Almost all participants
were satisfied with overall services provided by the OPD (99.7%) and the pharmacy (98.4%). The
majority (65.3%) agreed that implementation of the HIMS had improved the doctor-patient
relationship. All reported comments regarding the re-engineered services of the OPD were ‘positive’.
The study also suggests considering providing information in all common languages while announcing
the patient’s OPD number at the waiting area in future implementations. Conclusions: The majority of
patients were satisfied with the overall OPD services provided through implementation of the HIMS at
the CSHW, Sri Lanka
