An analysis of physician attitudes regarding computer-based clinical consultation systems

Abstract

Physician attitudes regarding computer-based clinical decision aids and the effect of a 2-day tutorial on medical computing are studied. The results indicate that physicians are accepting of applications that enhance their patient management capabilities, but tend to oppose applications in which they perceive an infringement on their management role. Expectations about the effect of computing on current medical practices are found to be generally favorable, although considerable individual differences exist among subgroups. The study participants place substantial demands on the performance capabilities of acceptable consultation systems, and emphasize the need for humanlike interactive capabilities. The tutorial had no effect on attitudes regarding appropriate clinical uses of computers nor on expectations about the effect of the technology on medical practice. However, it did increase the participants' knowledge of medical computing and led to more informed demands on system performance. We discuss the implications of the study and offer suggestions for developing and implementing computer-based clinical decision aids.