Developing a Framework For the Evaluation of E-Health Services
The article aims at bringing arguments advocating the need to build an evaluation framework applicable to e-health services.
Momentarily, the evaluation of this field is defined by: - domination by organizational and economic aspects; - lack of standard framework for assessing the results of implementation and use; - underdevelopment and under-management at the level of both theory and practice.
Hence resulted the acute need for determining a holistic evaluation framework, since the existing ones are limited.
The restrictions specific to these existing theoretical accounts reside in that they are focused only on the supply side of the healthcare services or they target only a specific user or certain application of an e-health initiative.
In other words, the approach is not comprehensive enough to evaluate the entire dimension of the field.
There are three main current evaluation frameworks: - criteria-based evaluation approach - a set of predefined criteria along with the information systems interface and the interaction between users the system are used as working grounds; - goal-based evaluation framework - the assessment of the information system is made on the basis of goals from the organizational context; - goal-free evaluation framework - it implies collecting data on a wide spectrum of effects of the system and assessing the importance of these effects in satisfying the proven needs.
Out of the three frameworks mentioned above, the first one is the most adequate for the evaluation of the e-health services.
The appropriateness results from the fact that the domain of e-health is very complex and necessitates an approach from multiple perspectives.
Consequently, a set of criteria has to be established so that the range of approaching perspectives can be outlined.
Here are the main characteristics that an appropriate criteria-based evaluation framework should have: - a sufficiently generic coverage to a broad range of applications as well as a sufficiently detailed basis to provide effective guidance; - it has to serve as a guide and aid for the evaluator to choose precisely and effectively throughout the entire process of assessment; - each perspective is devoted to a single type of stakeholders; - evaluation criteria established by means of both comparative and normative approaches.
Momentarily, the evaluation of this field is defined by: - domination by organizational and economic aspects; - lack of standard framework for assessing the results of implementation and use; - underdevelopment and under-management at the level of both theory and practice.
Hence resulted the acute need for determining a holistic evaluation framework, since the existing ones are limited.
The restrictions specific to these existing theoretical accounts reside in that they are focused only on the supply side of the healthcare services or they target only a specific user or certain application of an e-health initiative.
In other words, the approach is not comprehensive enough to evaluate the entire dimension of the field.
There are three main current evaluation frameworks: - criteria-based evaluation approach - a set of predefined criteria along with the information systems interface and the interaction between users the system are used as working grounds; - goal-based evaluation framework - the assessment of the information system is made on the basis of goals from the organizational context; - goal-free evaluation framework - it implies collecting data on a wide spectrum of effects of the system and assessing the importance of these effects in satisfying the proven needs.
Out of the three frameworks mentioned above, the first one is the most adequate for the evaluation of the e-health services.
The appropriateness results from the fact that the domain of e-health is very complex and necessitates an approach from multiple perspectives.
Consequently, a set of criteria has to be established so that the range of approaching perspectives can be outlined.
Here are the main characteristics that an appropriate criteria-based evaluation framework should have: - a sufficiently generic coverage to a broad range of applications as well as a sufficiently detailed basis to provide effective guidance; - it has to serve as a guide and aid for the evaluator to choose precisely and effectively throughout the entire process of assessment; - each perspective is devoted to a single type of stakeholders; - evaluation criteria established by means of both comparative and normative approaches.
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