Exploring the effectiveness of obstetrics and gynecology information systems in hospitals of a developing country: A qualitative content analysis

Obstetrics and gynecology information systems are designed to replace paper charts, interact with other clinical wards of hospital, and to better care for patients. This qualitative study was performed to explore the perception of midwives about the effectiveness of information systems. In this qualitative study, data were collected through semistructured and in-depth interviews and analyzed by content analysis and constant comparison method. Participants were 15 midwives from obstetrics and gynecology units of affiliated hospitals of Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Purposeful sampling method was used and continued until data saturation. The several themes that emerged from the interviews were divided into strength and weak points. Strength points included the facilitating the recording of information, reduction of costs and time, and the weakness points were repetition of tasks, low computer literacy of the staff, system restrictions on recording and editing, the unavailability of system and reduced the role of midwives in patient care. Midwives were faced with challenges in the use of information systems indicating the lack of quality of the information system. It seems that reinforcing strength points and resolving hardware and software problems can increase obstetrics and gynecology staff's acceptance of this information system and reduce their cultural resistance toward it.