Abstract

There is a significant interest in healthcare on the use of Artificial intelligence to support healthcare provision, however the
same cannot be said in the developing economies of sub-Saharan Africa. The deteriorating care provision has plagued the
African continent, and this has seen an increasing number of private providers of healthcare take the lead in the adoption of
Health Information Systems (HIS). A qualitative method using purposive sampling approaches was used. Data was collected
through interviews from 13 employees and 2 focus groups sessions at Polyclinic Idimed Douala Cameroon. Thematic analysis
helped interrogate their experiences through the theoretical lens of Technological Adoption Model (TAM) literature. There
were challenges with understanding the purpose of the HIS, ease of use, poor ICT infrastructure, resistance by employees,
inadequate staff training, technophobia, and resistance to change. The findings from this revealed that HIS played a vital role
in patient care. It also revealed that developing and undeveloped countries like Cameroon still face a lot of barriers with HIS
use. This research represents one of the efforts to examine the challenges of the implementation of the health information
system (HIS) and opens the need to contextualise technology adoption in emerging economies within the sub-Saharan Africa
region. It highlights culturally nested aspects of the TAM model and represents a pioneering effort to examine the health
information system (HIS) use in private healthcare provision in Cameroon. Private health care providers need take into
consideration the gaps in the contextual understandings of technology adoption and the realities that applies to them within
emerging economies such as Cameroon. The shift from the traditional to modernised health information systems must be
managed slowly and carefully.

keywords: Health Information Systems (HIS), patientcare, technology acceptance, Cameroon, Sub-Saharan Africa