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Essay / TOWARDS AN INTEGRATED MEDICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM IN...
INTRODUCTIONMany countries have established national initiatives to implement an integrated medical information system to improve the national health system and ensure quality and efficiency of healthcare services to patients, and Malaysia is no exception. According to Ching et al (2012), rapid changes in the medical environment have significantly accelerated and increased hospitals' demand for the quality and quantity of information processing. Currently in Malaysia, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai announced that public hospitals nationwide will be able to serve patients faster by 2015 when medical records are accessible online. Malaysia's Ministry of Health says several million ringgits have been allocated annually for the computerization program to create a database of electronic records of all patients by converting paper records. According to Liow in Local Pharmacy News (2011), by implementing electronic medical records, Malaysian government hospitals can share information, thereby speeding up medical services and patients will have a shorter waiting time and earlier diagnosis of illness. fast, because the country's health system and medical data of outpatients and hospitalized patients are computerized. In the first phase of computerization of medical records, it is expected that at least 20 Malaysian public hospitals will be able to retrieve their records independently. In fact, the first phase of the project is expected to be completed by 2015 and the computerization will cover major hospitals in the states, followed by smaller hospitals and clinics. Therefore, when all 20 Malaysian public hospitals have completed the digitalization of medical records, the Ministry of Health will implement the system online......on paper......some of these hospitals have already fully implemented electronic medical records. (EMR) and others have partial implementation. This variety and diversification of the choice of different hospitals adds to the stability of the sample. All the following hospitals are located at different locations in Selangor which cover all parts of Selangor; will be targeted in the questionnaire. In all 20 Malaysian public hospitals listed, quantitative data were administered in person. Rusnah (2006) argues that this had several advantages, enriching the data obtained from the questionnaires by giving instructions on how to complete the questionnaires and clarifying ambiguous terms and instantly answering respondents' questions. As a result, the researcher can guarantee the rate of return to the extent possible.