Electronic Medical Record System as a central ICT tool for quality healthcare services: Nigeria as a case study

Abstract

This study uses mixed methods to evaluate the benefits and challenges of implementing the Electronic Medical Record System (EMRS). Using Southwestern Nigeria as a case study, the study focuses on the factors that have been delaying the introduction of EMRS; the perception of both the staff and patients and the risks associated with the implementation of the EMRS in the Nigerian health sector. The results reveal that the majority of the hospitals in the study area still engage in manual record-keeping which is time consuming and keeps the patient waiting, and is very frustrating, especially in emergent conditions. The results show that 99% of participants in the study survey perceived that EMRS would bring better effectiveness to healthcare services in Nigeria. This is evident from the representativeness that about 67.2% of respondents strongly agreed that EMRS would bring fast and efficient healthcare services while 96.7% believed that improved power supply would aid its effectiveness. Thus, the key finding of this study is that erratic power supply is an important challenging factor in the introduction and implementation of EMRS in Nigeria. Over the past decades, healthcare providers have been under pressure to give medical services in a complex and bureaucratic settings with increasing population of patients. There is a need for constant power supply for effective running of any information system project like EMRS.