Role of information system auditors in healthcare practices implementing telemedicine services / Siti Nuraishah Salleh

• Main Author: Salleh, Siti Nuraishah
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2005
• Online Access: http://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/976/1/TD_SITI%20NURAISHAH%20SALLEH%20CS%2005_5.pdf; http://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/976/

Information System (IS) plays a lot of important roles in today's life. It helps many organizations in performing their business operations. The implementation of IS in healthcare industry has evolved rapidly compared to a decade ago. The use of healthcare information system has increased the need of IS audit practices in the healthcare industry in order to provide patients with better, effective and efficient services. However, the role of IS auditor in such a critical industry needs to be clearly defined. With the demand of IT usage in this industry, the telemedicine facility was introduced in Malaysia a few years back and a Telemedicine Act was introduced in 1997. This research seeks to determine the role played by IS auditors in healthcare industry and to determine the state of telemedicine practice in the healthcare industry in Klang Valley and Federal Territory (Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya) regions. The primary data were collected via interviews and questionnaire survey. 30 hospitals within the survey regions were identified. However, only 12 hospitals answered the questionnaire while another 4 hospitals agreed to be interviewed. The remaining 14 did not respond to the research project for various reasons. Analysis carried out and the findings indicated that the main roles IS auditors play in healthcare industry are generally advisory and consultancy roles. Another significant contribution from IS auditor was seen to be that of providing security diagnostics. Other than that, based on the 16 respondents, the research indicated that the current state of telemedicine practices in Klang Valley and Federal Territory regions is extremely low. Reasons are such as small company, no requirement for it, or waiting for the success of government projects.