The deployment of an electronic medical records (EMR) raises several important issues. Those addressed in this study are the access to such a system, the satisfaction on the security and authorization protocols to follow, the awareness of backup and recovery mechanisms in place, and the appreciation of the training of the IT staff. This qualitative study took place in the natural setting of the medical units' environments. A purposive sample of 40 professionals in Greece and Oman was used. The study underlines that the patients should have access to their records, whereas for the pharmacists the professionals' views are seriously divided. Every other person's access to such a record should be restricted and recorded. The professionals are satisfied with the security level, the ICTs training, and the backup and recovery mechanism in place. They almost all admitted there is an authorization schema followed to access the EMR. The main contribution of the study is the proposal of a framework of policies and procedures for the development of such a system.

An Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is a patient’s database record that can be transmitted securely. There are a diversity of EMR systems for different medical units to choose from. The structure and value of these systems is the focus of this qualitative study, from a medical professional’s standpoint, as well as its economic value and whether it should be shared between health organizations. The study took place in the natural setting of the medical units’ environments. A purposive sample of 40 professionals in Greece and Oman, was interviewed. The study suggests that: (1) The demographics of the EMR should be divided in categories, not all of them accessible and/or visible by all; (2) The EMR system should follow an open architecture so that more categories and subcategories can be added as needed and following a possible business plan (ERD is suggested); (3) The EMR should be implemented gradually bearing in mind both medical and financial concerns; (4) Sharing should be a patient’s decision as the owner of the record. Reaching a certain level of maturity of its implementation and utilization, it is useful to seek the professionals’ assessment on the structure and value of such a system.

The rapid developments of emerging technologies, including Big Data, Cloud Computing, and Internet of Things, are causing many societies to struggle whilst trying to keep up with, and adopt them. As a consequence, serious concerns and issues are being raised. The threat to personal information privacy is one of these issues. This review paper briefly introduces the aforementioned technologies and explores concepts related to concerns on information privacy and disclosure in the U.A.E. in the context of these technologies. In addition, related research themes that could be interesting to explore are identified, with a focus on the local environment.

The deployment of an Electronic Health Record (EHR) introduced multiple and obvious benefits. Nevertheless, it also introduced various issues and challenges. Among others, these include considerations regarding the levels of system access, provisions for security and authorization protocols, provisions for backup and recovery mechanisms, and the training of IT staff and their appreciation of the system. The study focused on these areas, and introduced a number of related concepts and observations, based on the opinions of a sample population of EHR system stakeholders across Greece and Oman. The study adopted a qualitative methodology, utilizing field work and visits to the natural settings of medical units in the two countries, where a total of 40 professionals were interviewed. The results indicate that the views of professionals are largely divided in terms of patient access to their personal records. It was also observed that the access of third parties to such records should be both restricted and recorded. In terms of the security level, the ICTs training and the backup and recovery mechanism in place, professionals were generally satisfied, with the majority of the interviewees also confirming that an authorization scheme should be followed in order to access the EHR.

Among the hottest fields in Information Technology, together with AI/Machine Learning and Blockchain, just to name of couple more, Virtual Reality (as well as Augmented Reality and Extended Reality) are gaining momentum all the more every day. This is mainly because it is heavily applicable on a broad range of business and scientific domains reshaping the way human activities are done now and leaving promises for the near and far future. This short review study aims to provide some insights on the status of the main aspects of VR and some challenges to address as well as provide some possible research directions for anyone interested to delve into the field.