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Exploring the Adoption of Cloud Computing for Health Care Delivery in Ghana

Cloud computing is the most recent Information Technology (IT) service available, allowing for universal and convenient network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources on-demand. It is a rapidly expanding solution that addresses almost all cost-cutting, rapid processing, easy access to information, scalability, and timeliness concerns. Many experts believe it has the potential to improve healthcare services, advance healthcare research, and alter the landscape of health information technology. However, as with any new technology, cloud computing should be tested extensively before widespread adoption. This study investigates the concept of cloud computing and its current adoption in healthcare, evaluating the opportunities and challenges of this computing model through four lenses (management, technology, security, and legal). The study goes on to discuss the strategic planning model that a health organization could use to determine its direction, strategy, and resource allocation when deciding to migrate from traditional to cloud-based health services. As an example, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) is used. The KBTH is Ghana's largest tertiary hospital, located in Accra. An evaluation survey was conducted to gather knowledge and information from healthcare practitioners as well as IT professionals with extensive knowledge of cloud computing. Finally, experienced project management practitioners were contacted to draw on their knowledge of designing and managing projects in a changing environment. Based on the findings, a five-stage strategic planning model for adopting and implementing cloud computing in the KBTH is recommended: identification, planning, pre-implementation, change management and training, and finally implementation; this model includes guidelines to increase the likelihood of a successful rollout.

Cloud Computing, Healthcare, Information Technology, Traditional

Thomas Henaku, Solomon Amenyo, David Mawuko Agbenu. (2022). Exploring the Adoption of Cloud Computing for Health Care Delivery in Ghana. Internet of Things and Cloud Computing, 10(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.iotcc.20221001.11

Copyright © 2022 Authors retain the copyright of this article.
This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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