Computer use in private dental practice in Australia, 1991.
There was a 70 per cent response to a mail questionnaire to a 1:3 sample of Australian Dental Association members in private practices (n = 1931). Computers were used by 37 per cent of practices. Main computer applications used were for: accounting (84%); patient billing (80%); word processing (79%); and patient recall (61%). External bureau services were used by 4 per cent of practices with most computers being in-house (single terminal 66%; multiple terminal 33%). The more dentists in a practice, the more likely was a computer to be used. Principal users were secretary/receptionists. Service and software were the most important factors in choice of computer system. Many practice computer users (67%) also had a Personal Computer at home compared with only 36 per cent of the non-users. Many respondents indicated the need for continuing education in computers (67% users; 61% non-users). More than half of the non-users indicated future use of computers for accounting, billing and recall. There has been a considerable increase in the use of computers in private practice (37%) since the Australian Dental Association Dental Practice Survey in 1983/84 (9%).
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Department of Preventive Dentistry, University of Sydney.
Barnard
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D000367:Age Factors; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D001315:Australia; D003201:Computers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003770:Dental Offices / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D011215:Practice Management, Dental; D012984:Software; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires