SynthesisPloS one2022
Understanding the impacts of health information systems on patient flow management: A systematic review across several decades of research.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Optimizing patient flow logistics: strategic challenges, tactical solutions, and future directions.BMC health services research · 2025Pooled it
- Comparison of the factors influencing the patients' waiting time between two healthcare facilities with and without health management information system in Hyderabad: a cross-sectional study.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Outcome centred process mapping in healthcare using random forest and process mining.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Convergence mapping analysis of interdisciplinary linkages in health services management.BMC health services research · 2025Article
- Work Systems Analysis of Emergency Nurse Patient Flow Management Using the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety Model: Applying Findings From a Grounded Theory Study.JMIR human factors · 2024Article
- Gatekeeping or Provider Choice for Sustainable Health Systems? A Literature Review on Their Impact on Efficiency, Access, and Quality of Services.Journal of market access & health policy · 2024Review
- Benchmarking hospital clinical pharmacy practice using standardised key performance indicators (KPIs).Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2024Article
- Generalisability of and lessons learned from a mixed-methods study conducted in three low- and middle-income countries to identify care pathways for atrial fibrillation.Global health action · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPatient flow describes the progression of patients along a pathway of care such as the journey from hospital inpatient admission to discharge. Poor patient flow has detrimental effects on health outcomes, patient satisfaction and hospital revenue. There has been an increasing adoption of health information systems (HISs) in various healthcare settings to address patient flow issues, yet there remains limited evidence of their overall impacts.
objectiveTo systematically review evidence on the impacts of HISs on patient flow management including what HISs have been used, their application scope, features, and what aspects of patient flow are affected by the HIS adoption.
methodsA systematic search for English-language, peer-review literature indexed in MEDLINE and EMBASE, CINAHL, INSPEC, and ACM Digital Library from the earliest date available to February 2022 was conducted. Two authors independently scanned the search results for eligible publications, and reporting followed the PRISMA guidelines. Eligibility criteria included studies that reported impacts of HIS on patient flow outcomes. Information on the study design, type of HIS, key features and impacts was extracted and analysed using an analytical framework which was based on domain-expert opinions and literature review.
resultsOverall, 5996 titles were identified, with 44 eligible studies, across 17 types of HIS. 22 studies (50%) focused on patient flow in the department level such as emergency department while 18 studies (41%) focused on hospital-wide level and four studies (9%) investigated network-wide HIS. Process outcomes with time-related measures such as 'length of stay' and 'waiting time' were investigated in most of the studies. In addition, HISs were found to address flow problems by identifying blockages, streamlining care processes and improving care coordination.
conclusionHIS affected various aspects of patient flow at different levels of care; however, how and why they delivered the impacts require further research.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.