Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Design, development, and evaluation of an interactive training simulator for teaching hospital information systems

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Faeze Ghaffari 1
. Fatemeh Rangraz Jeddi 2
. Razieh Farrahi 1
. Ehsan Nabovati 2

1 Student Research Committee, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

2 Health Information Management Research Center, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran, Department of Health Information Management and Technology, School of Allied Health Professions, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

Abstract
BACKGROUND: In their apprenticeship program, health information technology (HIT) students are
deprived of the ample opportunity to work with the hospital information system (HIS). This study
aimed to design an interactive simulator for the HIS training and evaluate its effects on the informatics
skills of HIT students.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted on 16 Bachelor of Science students of
HIT at Kashan University of Medical Sciences in 2019. After the functionalities and features of the
simulator were determined based on similar existing simulators, expert opinions were received to
simulate eight important processes of admission, discharge, and transfer module in HIS. The scores
of students’ skills and time taken to perform the processes were recorded and analyzed before and
after the educational intervention. After they were trained by the simulator, the students filled out a
usability evaluation questionnaire. The data were then analyzed in SPSS version 21.
RESULTS: The simulators of health information systems were characterized by interactivity,
multimedia applications, practice exercises, tests, and feedback. After the students were trained by
the developed simulator, their skills scores improved significantly in 75% (6/8) of the processes, and
the timespans of all processes decreased significantly (P < 0.05). The usability evaluation indicated
the usability of the simulator was at a “good” level.
CONCLUSIONS: According to the study results, using the simulator improves the informatics skills
of HIT students in working with HIS. It is recommended that this method also be used in other
apprenticeship programs to teach health information systems.

Keywords

Computer user training
health information systems
hospital information systems
simulation training
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 11, Issue 5
June 2021
Pages 1-7

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