Prioritization of the Most Important Data Items from the Perspective of Physicians to Design a Physician Desk Panel in the Information System of University Teaching Hospitals

Physicians need personalized tools to make the best and most appropriate clinical decision through proper access to patients' data and information. This study was performed to identify important data items for designing an electronic physician desk panel in a hospital information system (HIS).

This descriptive study was performed with the participation of physicians of hospitals under the auspices of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran and Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Zahedan, Iran. The study population included all physicians at different levels who were recruited by stratified and simple random sampling method. In two consecutive phases, first the minimum necessary data were identified through reputable authorities and then the opinions of the physicians were collected through interviews and structured questionnaires.

298 variables were identified as data items and 70 physicians in 18 medical groups were interviewed about them in specific questionnaires. Of the total items studied, 57 data items were common to all physicians and other non-common items between 5 and 45 items in different specialties were selected and prioritized at three levels.

Access to patients' clinical data is important for physicians and the physician's desk panel needs to be used as a daily tool by them.