Health Information Systems: Application and Effectiveness in Dental Clinic

Healthcare functionality and effectiveness (in particular the dental service) have received a great interest from both the national and international scientific community. Health information systems (HIS) can improve management in all spheres, including healthcare system as well. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of HIS Elestom® into routine dental practice. For the assessment of HIS effectiveness the following characteristics of therapeutic dentistry department activity (dentistry center Novostom) were chosen: frequency of visits, a total number of procedures per visit (per 1000 visits a year), a number of prophylaxis procedures (per 1000 visits a year), frequency of complications and esthetic defects after the dental treatment prior to and after implementation of HIS in dental practice within a period from 2015 to 2018. Analysis of temporary trends in therapeutic dentistry department activity over the period of this study revealed a rise in frequency of visits (10.2 vs 13.4 in 2018 and 2015, respectively). Annual rate of esthetic defects after dental treatment decreased over time from 2.0% (n=17) in 2015, to 0% (n=0) in 2018. HIS in different dental care organizations allows monitoring, rapid information exchange across all participants of the system and quality management in healthcare. Development of HIS and its implementation into clinical practice is one of the most important ways to improve availability, quality and efficacy of dental care. Besides, implementation and utilization of HIS in the dental clinic had a positive impact on the public dental care quality indicators: decrease in complications and esthetic defects of treatment, improvement of dental clinic functioning indices (such as overall number of procedures, and dental prophylaxis). HIS in different dental care organizations allows monitoring, rapid information exchange across all participants of the system and quality management in healthcare. © 2022, Colegio de Farmaceuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. All rights reserved.