The Role of Clinical Integration in Improving Healthcare

The present study aimed to explain and analyze fields of application of clinical integration, identify the role of clinical integration in improving health care, identify the most important technical and human obstacles that limit the application of clinical integration, and find solutions that contribute to the application of clinical integration in Saudi hospitals. The study concluded that the most important contributions made by clinical integration to improving health care are integration of services provided to patients with chronic diseases, reducing healthcare cost, quality of health services, raising the efficiency of physicians, technicians and nursing staff through opportunities for education, training and access to modern knowledge in their field of specialization. The study also showed that the most important obstacles that face the application of clinical integration are poor training in techniques needed for clinical integration, and unavailability of qualified human resources to operate and maintain the electronic devices needed to implement clinical integration. The study recommended raising the efficiency of the health information systems used in hospitals and developing them in terms of hardware, software and operating systems, providing financial support to train hospital staff, attracting technicians specialized in information systems, and supporting the senior leadership in the application of clinical integration and having a clear vision about the future application of clinical integration.