A Review on the Evaluation Methods of Health Information Systems

Evaluation of health information systems is an effective approach to ensure the efficacy of the system which can lead to the improvement in quality of health care services. The main aims of evaluation are to identify the strength and efficiency of system in health care delivery, to identify the weaknesses of the system, and to suggest general recommendations for improving the performance of the system. Evaluation could be performed through various methods. Some experts believe in three general methods including goal-based evaluation, goal-free evaluation and criteria-based evaluation. While some others consider two main methods for evaluation which are objective or quantitative and subjective or qualitative methods. Formative and summative methods are other classification of evaluation methods regarded by a number of researchers. This review represents various evaluation methods in health information systems and introduces the objectives and components to be evaluated in such systems.