Information and communication technology (ICT).

ICT are introduced into organizations with the goals of managing resources, increasing efficiency and work productivity and reducing workload. In the context of developing countries, these goals are accentuated given the existing conditions. The aim of this study was to identify hospital institutional capacity indicators to provide recommendations to an emergency management database system operating in the Western Cape province of South Africa as http://hospitalbedbureau.co.za/.

A two round modified Expert Delphi study was conducted by email. A panel of 16 experts drawn from the fields of emergency medicine, critical care, trauma surgery and disaster medicine were consulted. Participants were initially asked to propose hospital institutional capacity indicators that warranted inclusion in the emergency management database system currently operating in Cape Town, South Africa. In the second round these proposals were collated and scored using a 7 point Likert scale. Areas that did not reach consensus in the Delphi study will be presented as synopsis statements for discussion at the Emergency Medicine Symposium hosted by the department of Accident and Emergency Western Cape.

Round 1 comprised 237 statements. Consensus was defined a priori to be > 80%. A total of 52 of 237 statements had reached consensus upon completion of the Delphi study. This represented 21.9% of the total number of statements. Of these 20 reached consensus at > 90% and 32 reached consensus at > 80%.

The use of a Delphi study achieved consensus in aspects of hospital institutional capacity that can be translated into practical recommendations for implementation by the local emergency management database system. Additionally, areas of non-consensus have been identified where further work is required.