Digital hospitals in the context of digitalization in the health sector

"Digitalization", which is used in the entire service sector, has also started to be used in the health sector. It has gone through a new transformation in the health sector by starting to implement "Digitalization in Health" in Turkey, which has started to be implemented around the world. Digitalization in Health; It can be defined as the transfer of all patient data and administrative data used to electronic media (computer). Thus, patient data can be accessed quickly from anywhere. The research titled "Digital Hospitals in the Context of Digitalization in the Health Sector" was carried out in February and March 2022 at TR Ministry of Health Trabzon Sürmene State Hospital (Digital hospital EMRAM 6 /secondary care hospital), TR Ministry of Health SBU Trabzon Kanuni Training and Research Hospital (Non-digital hospital / tertiary care) and TR Ministry of Health Yozgat City Hospital (Digital hospital EMRAM 7 / tertiary care) Within the scope of the research, face-to-face interviews were made with qualitative open-ended in-depth questions to 26 people, including hospital senior managers and other managers (Health Manager, Hospital Chief Physicians and Assistants, Health Services Managers of Hospitals and other department managers of hospitals), and the interviews were included in the scope of the evaluation. Purpose of the research: 1- Examining Hospitals in the Context of Digitalization, 2- Examining the differences between digital hospitals and non-digital hospitals. With this study; Digital and non-digital hospital applications were compared and their advantages and disadvantages were determined. It has been evaluated how digital hospitals affect issues such as "efficiency, health service delivery, drug waste, patient follow-up and safety, accessibility of patient data and other data, protection of personal data, costs"; It has been determined what are the problems that arise in relation to digital hospital applications. Research findings show that digital hospital applications enable faster and more reliable transactions, prevent drug waste, reduce or even remove paper use, ensure patient and employee safety, quickly access patient data, increase the prestige and reliability of the healthcare institution, prevent unnecessary examinations, analyzes and procedures and a reduction in costs. In addition, the disadvantages of digital hospital applications can be counted as "inadequate technical infrastructure, problems in digital hospital systems due to insufficient training of system users and health workers, and the lack of innovation of employees". As a result, with the analysis of data obtained from face-to-face interviews and observations, the advantages and disadvantages of digital and non-digital hospital applications, innovations brought by digital hospitals to health applications; the differences between HIMSS EMRAM level 6 – level 7 digital hospitals have been determined. It is thought that this study will contribute to the development of the newly developing digital hospital literature in Turkey.