e-Prescriptions : Privacy concerns and security risks in Greece’s e-Health care system

Abstract: The present thesis presents an informed by ethnography research that seeks to explore the privacy concerns and security risks that individuals perceive with regards to the electronic system of handling digital prescriptions. The research takes place in Athens, Greece and the participants are professionals who use daily the e-prescription platform and citizens whose data is being gathered and accessed. The paradiagm within which the research is unfolded is the interpretive one and a methodology of flexible design is followed. Thematic analysis of concepts produced by the data gathered is followed in order to offer an understanding of the concerns that the participants perceive. The methods that were used were interviews with professionals, focus groups with groups of citizens, individual interviews with citizens, observations and thinking aloud in pharmacies. The aim of the thesis is to illuminate those concerns with the aspiration that it be used as a basis for further research on the important issue of privacy of sensitive, medical data and suggest ways that could help ameliorate the identified concerns.