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Attitudes towards information system security among physicians in Croatia
1Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia, Ljubljana. mladen.markota@ivz-rs.si
Methods of Information in Medicine
|August 15, 2001
Summary
Croatian physicians perceive information system security as a new challenge, with limited knowledge of relevant regulations. Most healthcare institutions lack security manuals, leaving data protection to individual initiative.
Area of Science:
- Medical Informatics
- Health Information Systems
- Cybersecurity in Healthcare
Background:
- Information system security is increasingly critical in healthcare.
- Physicians' awareness and practices regarding data security are not well-understood, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate Croatian physicians' attitudes towards information system security.
- To assess their awareness of data protection regulations and institutional policies.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study involving 800 Croatian physicians.
- Anonymous questionnaire with 21 questions, analyzed using chi-square tests.
- Achieved a 76.2% response rate.
Main Results:
- 85.8% of physicians consider information system security a new work area.
- Low adoption of personal computers (29%) and password usage (25% among PC users).
- Most institutions (89%) lack security manuals; physicians are unaware of European data protection directives.
Conclusions:
- Information system security is largely an individual concern for Croatian physicians.
- There is a significant gap in knowledge regarding ethical, technical, and legal frameworks for data security.
- This study is the first in Central/Eastern Europe on this topic using a national physician sample.