Doctors' use of electronic medical records systems in hospitals: cross sectional survey.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the use of three electronic medical records systems by doctors in Norwegian hospitals for general clinical tasks.


METHODS
Cross sectional questionnaire survey. Semistructured telephone interviews with key staff in information technology in each hospital for details of local implementation of the systems.


METHODS
32 hospital units in 19 Norwegian hospitals with electronic medical records systems.


METHODS
227 (72%) of 314 hospital doctors responded, equally distributed between the three electronic medical records systems.


METHODS
Proportion of respondents who used the electronic system, calculated for each of 23 tasks; difference in proportions of users of different systems when functionality of systems was similar.


RESULTS
Most tasks listed in the questionnaire (15/23) were generally covered with implemented functions in the electronic medical records systems. However, the systems were used for only 2-7 of the tasks, mainly associated with reading patient data. Respondents showed significant differences in frequency of use of the different systems for four tasks for which the systems offered equivalent functionality. The respondents scored highly in computer literacy (72.2/100), and computer use showed no correlation with respondents' age, sex, or work position. User satisfaction scores were generally positive (67.2/100), with some difference between the systems.


CONCLUSIONS
Doctors used electronic medical records systems for far fewer tasks than the systems supported.
Laerum
H
H
Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Norway. hallvard.larum@medisin.ntnu.no
Ellingsen
G
G
Faxvaag
A
A
D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006753:Hospital Records; D006801:Humans; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009664:Norway; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires