Challenges Associated With Physicians Acceptance and Usage of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in Public Hospitals of Addis Ababa

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2013-09

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Addis Ababa University

Abstract

Background: - Electronic Medical Record systems represent a departure from traditional paper records keeping in that they include all records of patient treatment stored in computerized format. When coupled with networked systems and the internet. the EMR platform offers increased versatility in terms of transferability of information, greater communication among doctors, and improvements in quality of care, just to name a few advantages. Objective : - The general objective of this study is to assess challenges associated with physicians' acceptance and usage of EMR in public hospitals of Addis Ababa. Methods: - A cross-sectional study design with quantitative method was conducted among 11 Hospitals under Addis Ababa Health bureau. Addis Ababa University and Federal Ministry of health from May to June 2013G.C. A total of275 physicians were selected using simple random sampling technique. The data were collected using self administer structured questionnaire. The data were entered and cleaned using Epinfo version 3.5. 1 and analyzed using SPSS version 15. Frequency and percentages were used to describe the study population. Result : - The study revealed that among the total respondents 46.5% learned how to use computers by their own. Only 2.5% of the study participants reported they feel discomfort while using computer. About 53.1% respondents have knowledge of Electronic Medical Records (EM R). About 43.4% responded that they didn' t get enough support from hosp ital administration and only 7.9% participants respond they did get full support. More than ha lf percent of participants acknowledged that time required entering data to the system, reluctant to replace a paper based medical records in order to integrate with EMR, lack of technical training and support. EMR increase in physicians work load and Poor typing ability as major factors affecting acceptance of EMR. Conclusion and Recommendation: - Generally this finding demonstrates that high proportion of physicians was supporting implementation of EMR: however. some factors such as lack of technical training and support. EMR increase work load and time required entering data to the system affect acceptance of it. So stockholders should device adequate training and support to them to solve the problem

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Challenges Associated With Physicians Acceptance and Usage of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in Public Hospitals of Addis Ababa

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