Feral Information Systems i Vårdverksamheter : En fallstudie om risker som kan uppstå när de inte uppfyller vårdverksamheters krav på IT-system

Sammanfattning: Although healthcare information systems improve healthcare and efficiency they are often complex and provide a limited service. For these and other similar reasons, users often take it upon themselves to create their own solutions. These user created solutions are called feral information systems. It is not always that these feral information systems meet the standard requirements of healthcare information systems and as a result of this they have the potential to create risk that might put the patient, management and the organization at risk. This is an undergraduate thesis that aims to research the risks that can rise when feral information systems fail to meet the standard requirements of healthcare information systems. The report is an interpretive case study that focuses on three different feral information system within a regional healthcare organization. Ten standard requirements of healthcare information systems are described and written from three distinctive divisions – Technique oriented, information oriented and user oriented requirements. Information is gathered using a semi-structured interview with the developer of the three systems, a user of one of the systems and two managers from the maintenance department of the organization. The data gathered about the feral information system is then interpreted and analyzed using the ten requirements of IT system in healthcare from the perspective of the three different divisions. As a result of the research we have come to the conclusion that the failure to meet the user and information and technical oriented requirements have the potential to create certain risk in some aspects but not all. Feral information systems in health care services can pose a risk to patient safety and that there are probably several of these systems that violate the patient data act or personal data law. Failure to handle data integrity and follow the patient data law in feral information systems often results in lacking user traceability. In addition, there is an extra cost to maintain systems that are usually not analyzed by the operations. We see that feral information systems often uses self- defined healthcare terminology which obstructs the ability to integrate with other systems. The lack of documentation obstructs the use of the system without a special training. These trainings take time, resources and are often not free. Making the organization more and more dependent on the experienced users. Furthermore, the lack of documentation also obstructs the possibility of further developing the system.  However, the potential of feral information system to cause risk is often neglected and underestimated. This is because feral information systems often fulfill only a small and particular need within a certain division of the organization.