Abstract
Background Electronic medical record (EMR) systems offer the potential to improve health care quality by allowing physicians real-time access to patient healthcare information. The endorsement and usage of EMRs by physicians have a significant influence on other user groups in the healthcare system. As a result, the purpose of this study was to examine physicians' attitudes regarding EMRs and identify the elements that may influence their attitudes. Method An institutional-based cross-sectional study design supplemented with a qualitative study was conducted from March 1 to April 30, 2018, among a total of 403 physicians. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data. The validity of the prediction bounds for the dependent variable and the validity of the confidence intervals and P values for the parameters were measured with a value of less than 0.05 and 95 percent of confidence interval. For the supplementary qualitative study, data were collected using semistructured in-depth interviews from 11 key informants, and the data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Result Physicians' computer literacy (CI: 0.264, 0.713; P: 0001) and computer access at work (CI: 0.141, 0.533, P: 0.001) were shown to be favorable predictors of their attitude towards EMR system adoption. Another conclusion from this study was the inverse relationship between physicians' prior EMR experience and their attitude about the system (CI: -0.517, -0.121; P: 0.002). Conclusion According to the findings of this study, physicians' attitudes regarding EMR were found moderate in the studied region. There was a favorable relationship between computer ownership, computer literacy, lack of EMR experience, participation in EMR training, and attitude towards EMR. Improving the aforementioned elements is critical to improving physicians' attitudes regarding EMR.
Highlights
Different information communication technologies (ICTs) are being implemented and used in health care for facilitating the service and strengthen the health system
After controlling for other variables, the correlation coefficient value of the analysis shows that physicians’ computer ownership, computer literacy, lack of prior Electronic medical record (EMR) experience, participation in EMR training, and computer access at work were significantly associated with physicians’ attitudes towards electronic medical record systems
The majority of respondents claimed that the previously introduced EMR system had inadequate system architecture and used unstandardized medical terminology, causing care providers’ attitudes of EMR systems to be warped. Another issue raised by participants was that in a work environment with a high patient load and low computer literacy among physicians, the difficulty of typing patient-related history on keyboards reduces physicianpatient interaction, which may affect attitudes towards EMR systems
Summary
Different information communication technologies (ICTs) are being implemented and used in health care for facilitating the service and strengthen the health system. Based on different studies in different settings, the EMR system is perceived as the way to advance information exchange, saving time, data confidentiality, and decision makings [2, 3]. Because of those potential benefits, electronic medical record systems are rapidly being implemented in healthcare settings of many countries, including in the low-resource setting countries [4,5,6,7]. Physicians’ computer literacy (CI: 0.264, 0.713; P: 0001) and computer access at work (CI: 0.141, 0.533, P: 0.001) were shown to be favorable predictors of their attitude towards EMR system adoption. Improving the aforementioned elements is critical to improving physicians’ attitudes regarding EMR
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
