The Impact of Clinical Experience on the Clinical Informatics Role in Saudi Arabia: A Grounded Theory Approach

Abstract

Background: Involving clinicians in technology implementation and adoption projects in healthcare is considered key for their success because it utilises the clinicians’ knowledge and experience in driving the process of selection and implementation of technology. In Saudi Arabia, there is no differentiation between health informatics and clinical informatics at a professional level, and the clinical informatics role is assumed by professionals who may lack clinical education or clinical experience. Purpose: This study explores the role of clinical experience in the clinical informatics profession by identifying its impact on how clinical informaticians perform their role, in order to determine whether it should be a prerequisite for the profession. Procedures: This is a qualitative study using the grounded theory approach. Data collection was done using semi-structured interviews of a sample of clinical informaticians in Saudi Arabia, which were selected through a theoretical sampling process. Data analysis was done using theoretical coding in repeating progressions where emerging theories are tested against data until a state of theoretical saturation was reached and a theory that is grounded in the data was formulated regarding this topic. Findings: The most prominent categories in the data were "understanding", "communicating", and "blending information technology (IT) expertise with clinical experience". The data showed that having clinical experience led clinical informaticians to have deeper understanding of the clinical process and its clinical rationale and easier and more effective communication with the users, which resulted in an enhanced affiliation with users, and improved technology adoption. Additionally, the data suggested that both clinical experience and IT knowledge are important for clinical informaticians, however clinical experience was regarded as being more fundamental for the role. Conclusions: The emerging theories from the study included that having clinical experience is critical for the clinical informatics role, and that having IT knowledge is beneficial for the clinical informatics role. This study has implications on healthcare organisations, policy makers in the field of clinical informatics, and clinical informaticians.