Clinician assessments of workplace security training- an informatics perspective

Abstract

This paper describes and analyses clinicians’ assessments of workplace privacy and security (PaS) training in the context of contemporary health information system (HIS) practice. The PaS training underpins national e-health frameworks. The paper draws on findings from a forthcoming dissertation. The ‘questerview’ technique was applied to this case study of 26 clinicians in three Victorian (Australia) public hospitals. The technique relies on data collection that applies standardised questions and questionnaires during interviews. Respondents were recorded while they completed the standardised questions and questionnaires and were encouraged to discuss their responses to items in detail. Data analysis involved the scrutiny of ‘questerview’ transcripts to identify emergent themes. Responses to the standardised items led to rich sources of qualitative data. The majority of clinicians had attended workplace PaS training sessions. The sessions took a variety of forms including written handouts, system training and induction programs. Some clinicians were unaware of the training sessions or found them poorly implemented. Scheduling problems meant many clinicians found the sessions difficult to attend. Clinician feedback indicates that workplace PaS training sessions for HIS were poor. The sessions were not ongoing or related to clinical practice concerns and can best be summed up as ‘irrelevant’ to HIS practice. Irrelevant PaS training sessions hamper clinical confidence in HIS practice and the introduction of unified e-health records at national levels. The clinicians’ feedback suggests a pressing need for further research and contextual reviews of HIS PaS training protocols nationally and across the globe.