Objectives:The study was done to determine the physicians' perception about electronic medical record system (EMRS) in the context of its productivity in order to improve its functionality and advantages.Materials and Methods:This cross-sectional survey was performed from July to August 2009 with structured questionnaire of 15 closed-ended questions with five points Likert scaling starting from strongly disagree to strongly agree as 1–5, reflecting the perception of physicians about EMRS. The physicians of the Makkah region working in six different hospitals were selected. “Positive” response means if percent of responses were rated 4 or 5 (agree/strongly agree), “neutral” if rated 3, and negative if rated 1 or 2 (strongly disagree/disagree). Descriptive data analysis techniques were used.Results:We selected 317 completed questionnaires. Majority of subjects were from King Fahd Hospital, Jeddah (83, 26.3%), residents (147, 46.4%), male (200,63.1%), expatriates (207, 65%), and age group 36–45 years (133, 42%) were dominant. The stem regarding importance of computers for practicing medicine and EMRS to improve quality of practice was appreciated by majority, that is, 77.7 and 71.2%, respectively. However, “It does not disrupt the workflow” (35.1%) and “EMRS is comfortable while entering the data instead of writing” (34.8%) were appreciated negatively. Consultants (53.9%), male (53.4%), expatriates (56.7%), physicians of King Abdul Aziz Hospital, Ta'if (56.9%), and age group of 46–55 years (53.8%) appreciated EMRS positively. Overall perception of EMRS was found positive by 52.8%.Conclusion:Majority appreciated the EMRS, but specific concerns about its usage easiness and workflow disturbance were opposed by them also.

The overall outcome of this study indicates that physicians need further computer literacy improvements.

Background and Objectives:A confidential inquiry by the Directorate General of Health Affairs, Makkah region, Saudi Arabia, found physicians in different hospitals were reluctant to enter patients’ related information in electronic medical record systems. One of the major issues raised was that they didn’t have the required computer literacy. Our aim, therefore, was to conduct a survey to highlight the computer literacy among the physicians of Makkah region.Materials and Methods:This cross-sectional survey was performed from May to July 2009. A structured questionnaire of four A4 size paper was distributed among the physicians of the Makkah region working in seven different hospitals. The questionnaire contained questions on background knowledge of computers, i.e., (a) basic computer vocabulary knowledge (BCVK) (10 questions), (b) basic computer skills (BCS) (22 questions), (c) basic communication and internet skills (BCIS) (12 questions).Results:Response rate of 368, i.e., 81.6% of sample size (n = 451) was attained. The maximum response came from King Abdul Aziz Hospital (Taif), i.e., 79%. Overall BCVK, BCS and BCIS were the highest among the physicians of Alnoor Specialist Hospital, i.e., 71.3%, 91.4%, 87.7%, respectively. All the hospitals had a satisfactory level of BCVK, but levels of BCS and BCIS were above satisfactory except King Abdul Aziz Hospital (Jeddah) that showed a satisfactory level in BCIS.Conclusion:Majority of the physicians had a good or an excellent level of computer background knowledge that gave a prediction toward the issues of their non-promising attitude and beliefs about electronic data entry.

The study objective was the development and content evaluation of the paper-based Hajji Health Record (PHHR) instrument to make it appropriate for developmental phases of web based electronic Hajji (Pilgrim) Health Record (WEHHR) implementation. A qualitative and quantitative survey was done on 13 December 2008G in Alnoor Specialist Hospital, Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Twenty-two physicians of 19 countries were given a preliminary questionnaire containing basic sociodemographic information, followed by Hajjis' health information sheet (HHIS) with a sample scenario of a case history. A structured evaluation questionnaire about HHIS was given afterwards. Five point Likert scaling was used starting from strongly agree to strongly disagree as 1 to 5. Data was analyzed by using SPSS programme version 16. Two tailed p-value <0.05 was considered as significant. Mean age was 48.6 years with range (35-64). Specialists were 10(45.5%) and teaching hospitals' physicians were 11(50%). Twelve (54.5%) physicians had concept about EHR, while the same number had their Hajjis' health record but only 33.3% (4/12) had sufficient health information. Response rate was 91.9% with average rating of 2.2 ± 1. Agreement response (78.8%) was noted for "medical history" category followed by "medication history" (76.2%). Average rating of consultants was (2 ± 0.88), while specialists, residents and general practitioners had 2.3 ± 1.2, 2.7 ± 1, 2.1 ± 0.58, respectively. Physicians without EHR concept had average rating 2.1 ± 1.16 than other group (2.3 ± 0.92). Majority of physicians were specialists. Overall response rate was superb with agreement response. No significant difference in rating was found among all categories of physicians.