Status of Digital Health Technology Adoption in 5 Vietnamese Hospitals: Cross-Sectional Assessment
BackgroundDigital health technologies (DHTs) have been recognized as a key solution to help countries, especially those in the low- and middle-income group, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Triple Billion Targets. I...
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JMIR Publications
2025-02-01
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| Series: | JMIR Formative Research |
| Online Access: | https://formative.jmir.org/2025/1/e53483 |
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| author | Duc Minh Tran Nguyen Thanh Dung Chau Minh Duc Huynh Ngoc Hon Le Minh Khoi Nguyen Phuc Hau Duong Thi Thu Huyen Huynh Thi Le Thu Tran Van Duc Lam Minh Yen C Louise Thwaites Chris Paton |
| author_facet | Duc Minh Tran Nguyen Thanh Dung Chau Minh Duc Huynh Ngoc Hon Le Minh Khoi Nguyen Phuc Hau Duong Thi Thu Huyen Huynh Thi Le Thu Tran Van Duc Lam Minh Yen C Louise Thwaites Chris Paton |
| author_sort | Duc Minh Tran |
| collection | DOAJ |
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BackgroundDigital health technologies (DHTs) have been recognized as a key solution to help countries, especially those in the low- and middle-income group, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Triple Billion Targets. In hospital settings, DHTs need to be designed and implemented, considering the local context, to achieve usability and sustainability. As projects such as the Vietnam ICU Translational Applications Laboratory are seeking to integrate new digital technologies in the Vietnamese critical care settings, it is important to understand the current status of DHT adoption in Vietnamese hospitals.
ObjectiveWe aimed to explore the current digital maturity in 5 Vietnamese public hospitals to understand their readiness in implementing new DHTs.
MethodsWe assessed the adoption of some key DHTs and infrastructure in 5 top-tier public hospitals in Vietnam using a questionnaire adapted from the Vietnam Health Information Technology (HIT) Maturity Model. The questionnaire was answered by the heads of the hospitals’ IT departments, with follow-up for clarifications and verifications on some answers. Descriptive statistics demonstrated on radar plots and tile graphs were used to visualize the data collected.
ResultsHospital information systems (HIS), laboratory information systems (LIS), and radiology information systems–picture archiving and communication systems (RIS-PACS) were implemented in all 5 hospitals, albeit at varied digital maturity levels. At least 50% of the criteria for LIS in the Vietnam HIT Maturity Model were satisfied by the hospitals in the assessment. However, this threshold was only met by 80% and 60% of the hospitals with regard to HIS and RIS-PACS, respectively. Two hospitals were not using any electronic medical record (EMR) system or fulfilling any extra digital capability, such as implementing clinical data repositories (CDRs) and clinical decision support systems (CDSS). No hospital reported sharing clinical data with other organizations using Health Level Seven (HL7) standards, such as Continuity of Care Document (CCD) and Clinical Document Architecture (CDA), although 2 (40%) reported their systems adopted these standards. Of the 5 hospitals, 4 (80%) reported their RIS-PACS adopted the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard.
ConclusionsThe 5 major Vietnamese public hospitals in this assessment have widely adopted information systems, such as HIS, LIS, and RIS-PACS, to support administrative and clinical tasks. Although the adoption of EMR systems is less common, their implementation revolves around data collection, management, and access to clinical data. Secondary use of clinical data for decision support through the implementation of CDRs and CDSS is limited, posing a potential barrier to the integration of external DHTs into the existing systems. However, the wide adoption of international standards, such as HL7 and DICOM, is a facilitator for the adoption of new DHTs in these hospitals. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0c84307f8f8841198cf66a1da2abacf2 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2561-326X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR Formative Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-0c84307f8f8841198cf66a1da2abacf22025-02-06T22:00:36ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Formative Research2561-326X2025-02-019e5348310.2196/53483Status of Digital Health Technology Adoption in 5 Vietnamese Hospitals: Cross-Sectional AssessmentDuc Minh Tranhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1151-5988Nguyen Thanh Dunghttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9635-1136Chau Minh Duchttps://orcid.org/0009-0002-2371-9512Huynh Ngoc Honhttps://orcid.org/0009-0003-7008-1416Le Minh Khoihttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2250-0818Nguyen Phuc Hauhttps://orcid.org/0009-0000-5108-5962Duong Thi Thu Huyenhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0896-3138Huynh Thi Le Thuhttps://orcid.org/0009-0007-3457-7974Tran Van Duchttps://orcid.org/0009-0002-4610-246XLam Minh Yenhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5126-110XC Louise Thwaiteshttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-4666-9813Chris Patonhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6952-9621 BackgroundDigital health technologies (DHTs) have been recognized as a key solution to help countries, especially those in the low- and middle-income group, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Triple Billion Targets. In hospital settings, DHTs need to be designed and implemented, considering the local context, to achieve usability and sustainability. As projects such as the Vietnam ICU Translational Applications Laboratory are seeking to integrate new digital technologies in the Vietnamese critical care settings, it is important to understand the current status of DHT adoption in Vietnamese hospitals. ObjectiveWe aimed to explore the current digital maturity in 5 Vietnamese public hospitals to understand their readiness in implementing new DHTs. MethodsWe assessed the adoption of some key DHTs and infrastructure in 5 top-tier public hospitals in Vietnam using a questionnaire adapted from the Vietnam Health Information Technology (HIT) Maturity Model. The questionnaire was answered by the heads of the hospitals’ IT departments, with follow-up for clarifications and verifications on some answers. Descriptive statistics demonstrated on radar plots and tile graphs were used to visualize the data collected. ResultsHospital information systems (HIS), laboratory information systems (LIS), and radiology information systems–picture archiving and communication systems (RIS-PACS) were implemented in all 5 hospitals, albeit at varied digital maturity levels. At least 50% of the criteria for LIS in the Vietnam HIT Maturity Model were satisfied by the hospitals in the assessment. However, this threshold was only met by 80% and 60% of the hospitals with regard to HIS and RIS-PACS, respectively. Two hospitals were not using any electronic medical record (EMR) system or fulfilling any extra digital capability, such as implementing clinical data repositories (CDRs) and clinical decision support systems (CDSS). No hospital reported sharing clinical data with other organizations using Health Level Seven (HL7) standards, such as Continuity of Care Document (CCD) and Clinical Document Architecture (CDA), although 2 (40%) reported their systems adopted these standards. Of the 5 hospitals, 4 (80%) reported their RIS-PACS adopted the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard. ConclusionsThe 5 major Vietnamese public hospitals in this assessment have widely adopted information systems, such as HIS, LIS, and RIS-PACS, to support administrative and clinical tasks. Although the adoption of EMR systems is less common, their implementation revolves around data collection, management, and access to clinical data. Secondary use of clinical data for decision support through the implementation of CDRs and CDSS is limited, posing a potential barrier to the integration of external DHTs into the existing systems. However, the wide adoption of international standards, such as HL7 and DICOM, is a facilitator for the adoption of new DHTs in these hospitals.https://formative.jmir.org/2025/1/e53483 |
| spellingShingle | Duc Minh Tran Nguyen Thanh Dung Chau Minh Duc Huynh Ngoc Hon Le Minh Khoi Nguyen Phuc Hau Duong Thi Thu Huyen Huynh Thi Le Thu Tran Van Duc Lam Minh Yen C Louise Thwaites Chris Paton Status of Digital Health Technology Adoption in 5 Vietnamese Hospitals: Cross-Sectional Assessment JMIR Formative Research |
| title | Status of Digital Health Technology Adoption in 5 Vietnamese Hospitals: Cross-Sectional Assessment |
| title_full | Status of Digital Health Technology Adoption in 5 Vietnamese Hospitals: Cross-Sectional Assessment |
| title_fullStr | Status of Digital Health Technology Adoption in 5 Vietnamese Hospitals: Cross-Sectional Assessment |
| title_full_unstemmed | Status of Digital Health Technology Adoption in 5 Vietnamese Hospitals: Cross-Sectional Assessment |
| title_short | Status of Digital Health Technology Adoption in 5 Vietnamese Hospitals: Cross-Sectional Assessment |
| title_sort | status of digital health technology adoption in 5 vietnamese hospitals cross sectional assessment |
| url | https://formative.jmir.org/2025/1/e53483 |
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