Evaluating health information systems: an assessment of frameworks

The rapid increase in investments for computerised systems is a major concern for all health organisations. Questions about these investments arise as information technology is only one of the areas that are competing for a finite amount of resources. There is also some concern that some of the failures of information technology would have been detected if proper evaluation of information systems were conducted. The state of the art of evaluating information systems shows changes from a very positivist approach to more comprehensive approaches that would incorporate multiple methods. This paper presents an assessment of the techniques and methods for information systems evaluation, followed by an application to a case study in community health to illustrate the value of the contextualist approach to evaluation. The paper argues for the use of longitudinal, contextualist approaches to information systems evaluation if decision-makers seek to improve the situation of information systems in the health industry.