Change management in the implementation of electronic health records (EHR) systems at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, South Africa

Abstract

For decades, public hospitals have relied on managing records manually using different formats of classification. However, driven by an eHealth strategy, hospitals in South Africa are now changing to electronic health records (EHR) systems for their day-to-day functioning. Earlier studies conducted on health records management in the South African provinces of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), Limpopo, Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Western Cape, all point to minimal evidence of change management in EHR system implementation in public hospitals. This paper presents empirical results of an investigation into the management of change in the implementation of an EHR system at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Public Hospital in the eThekwini area of KZN. The findings show that an ill-defined change management approach in the EHR system implementation hinders the progress of the implementation and thus the improvement of health service delivery. The study recommends that the implementation of a robust and functional EHR system be accompanied equally by a viable, parallel and executable change management blueprint.