With hospitals across Turkey actively planning a wide range of new IT initiatives, a recent IDC Health Insights survey suggests that IT investments among urban acute care hospitals in the country are being strongly influenced by the need to enable data exchange across healthcare providers and improve compliance with governmental policies and regulations. Typical drivers relating to organizational growth and efficiency also have important roles to play, but increasing staff satisfaction was rated among the most powerful driving forces behind hospital IT investments.
“This latter point may at first be somewhat surprising, but on closer examination it makes a great deal of sense,” says Nino Giguashvili, lead research analyst with IDC Health Insights. “HR-related factors play a truly critical role in healthcare IT market developments in Turkey. Against the competing forces of a fast-growing healthcare sector and an increasing shortage of healthcare workers, motivated staff represents an invaluable asset for healthcare providers in Turkey. We have consistently observed in our research that staff attitudes are key factors determining IT investment decisions at Turkish hospitals, while staff-related constraints – including skills deficits and a resistance to organizational change – are among the strongest barriers to IT innovation”.
IDC’s survey suggests that urban acute care hospitals in Turkey are making solid progress toward digitizing patient medical records and installing core information systems for hospital administration. However, advanced solutions for supporting clinical workflows and integrated hospital solutions are expected to take longer to reach a broad level of adoption. Hospital’s IT investments are expected to increase in the areas of virtualization, mobile solutions, and IT security systems, although IT infrastructure constraints, financial limitations, and a lack of skills are inhibiting the progress.
“Despite the limited sample size, this survey confirms a number of key trends we have observed both anecdotally and through our supply-side research,” continues Giguashvili. “This is good news for patients, as the results point to advancements in hospital care in Turkey. Still, the most striking developments that we will see in Turkish healthcare will be those around mobility. Mobility seems to be of unparalleled importance among the 3D platform technologies that are expected to permeate Turkey hospitals at an impressive speed over the coming years.”
The IDC Health Insights study ‘Turkey Hospital IT Trends Survey: Drivers, Adoption Trends, and Investment Priorities’ (May 2014 Doc # CEMA21204) highlights the results of the IDC Health Insights IT Trends Survey of urban acute care hospitals in Turkey. Senior IT executives of 30 acute care hospitals, located in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants, were interviewed as a part of the survey. The survey features figures and essential guidance highlighting IT investment drivers, investment priorities, adoption trends, and deployment plans for core enterprise and healthcare-specific solutions as well as 3rd Platform technologies.
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