Adoption of Electronic Health Records

Abstract

SummaryObjective: Less than 20% of hospitals in the US have an electronic health record (EHR). In this qualitative study, we examine the perspectives of both academic and private physicians and administrators as stakeholders, and their alignment, to explore their perspectives on the use of technology in the clinical environment. Methods: Focus groups were conducted with 74 participants who were asked a series of openended questions. Grounded theory was used to analyze the transcribed data and build convergent themes. The relevance and importance of themes was constructed by examining frequency, convergence, and intensity. A model was proposed that represents the interactions between themes. Results: Six major themes emerged, which include the impact of EHR systems on workflow, patient care, communication, research/outcomes/billing, education/learning, and institutional culture. Academic and private physicians were confident of the future benefits of EHR systems, yet cautious about the current implementations of EHR, and its impact on interactions with other members of the healthcare team and with patients, and the amount of time necessary to use EHR's. Private physicians differed on education and were uneasy about the steep learning curve necessary for use of new systems. In contrast to physicians, university and hospital administrators are optimistic, and value the availability of data for use in reporting. Conclusion:The results of our study indicate that both private and academic physicians concur on the need for features that maintain and enhance the relationship with the patient and the healthcare team. Resistance to adoption is related to insufficient functionality and its potential negative impact on patient care. Integration of data collection into clinical workflows must consider the unexpected costs of data acquisition.

Digital transformation of healthcare sector. What is impeding adoption and continued usage of technology-driven innovations by end-users?

“…Because the healthcare system and providers' primary concern is to offer the best care to patients suffering from various diseases, concerns regarding the impact of e-health innovations on the quality of provider-patient interactions, the correctness of diagnoses, tracking progress, and others are particularly important. Indeed, care quality concerns have persisted long after the introduction and increasing adoption of ehealth innovations (Grabenbauer, Fraser, et al, 2011;Taylor et al, 2015;Yu et al, 2013). Our study likewise found that healthcare providers' worries regarding the effects of e-health innovations on the quality of care have not abated.…”

'It’s not something you can take in your hands'. Swiss experts’ perspectives on health data ownership: an interview-based study

“…In this respect, research has considered mostly the questions of who should be the owner of health data [19][20][21][22][23][24][25] or underlined that there is lack of (legal) clarity about rules and rights concerning data control. [26][27][28][29][30][31] However, existing empirical research discuss this issue from a broad perspective in the context of data management and data reuse, without focusing extensively on different aspects of data ownership and its meaning.…”

Current Status of the Adoption, Utilization and Helpfulness of Health Information Systems in Korea

“…Considering the meaning of informatization refers to ‘use of information technology resources in organizations’ [9], changes in perceptions and paradigms of medical informatization are taking place across the world. For example, in the United States, the government actively encourages the introduction of the health information technology (HIT) [10] and expert groups including the American Medical Association are also promoting expansion of HISs to improve treatment and patient safety in their clinical settings [11]. Now, the perception that it is not possible to run the complex healthcare business without using HISs is widespread [11].…”