Project background: Patient information is exchanged between different governmental levels of health care to provide new health level with correct/adequate information. The information exchanged is important in securing a seamless and continuous care. Purpose/problem: This projects objective is to assess the information quality of electronic messages, in particular if the content received meets the recipient’s need of information to customize patient treatment/care. Selection/method: The project made requests to a coordination manager and interaction coordinators in a region, who communicated the projects request for participants in both surveys to appropriate hospitals/municipalities. The Delphi study was conducted to identify indicators of quality in electronic messages. Identified indicators were transformed in to variables in assessment scales related to each message type, used in a quantitative study to evaluate information quality in messages. Results and analysis: Results from the Delphi study were analyzed qualitatively using meaning condensation and coding. In the quantitative survey, approximately half of the messages have good quality. The remaining 45-50 %, have deficiencies, additional information is clearly needed. Even with major deficiencies - 75 % of the participants indicate that deviations will not be reported. Conducted factor analysis supports the assessment scales` reliability and validity, and indicates that the variables measure the same underlying phenomena. Conclusion: The quality of the information in "Innleggelsesrapport" and "Helseopplysning" has varying - and sometimes poor quality. There is a plethora of information nurses must consider before sending a message, and checklists/guidelines based on this projects indicators probably can help improving information quality in e-messages. Keywords: Electronic messages, information transfer, quality

Masteroppgave i helse- og sosialinformatikk HSI 500 Universitetet i Agder 2014