FACTORS AFFECTING IMPLEMANTATION OF MEDICAL RECORDS SYSTEM AT TERTIARY FACILITY CARE

Abstract

Globally, many healthcare facilities tried to implement electronic medical records (EMR) system mainly to improve health information recording process. There is a high expectation for and interest in EMR as great potential for improving quality, continuity, safety and efficiency in healthcare worldwide nevertheless, implementing EMR system is the priority agenda not only in developed countries but also in many developing countries although on overall adoption rate is relatively low more than 50% of the EMRs either fail or fail to be properly utilized in the world. Developing and implementing electronic medical records is a complicated process that might affect how clinical care is delivered and reported. It is for this reason that a number of factors must be considered before the process begins. For example EMRs should have the potential to improve continuity of care and reporting, the cost to implement and maintain, expectations about the capabilities of EMRs should be managed, stakeholders’ coordination is crucial for successful implementation and of EMRs. Despite the implementation of EMRs to be particularly complex it requires a range of technical, user skills technical infrastructure, financial resources and coordination and organization factors to be considered. This was a descriptive cross sectional research design. The main objective was to assess the factors affecting implementation of EMRs at a tertiary care facility. Data was collected using structured questionnaire using Likert scale type of questionnaire with the highest being strongly agreed (5) and the least being strongly disagreed (1). A simple random sampling technique was applied to determine number of 370 respondents. To establish reliability of the research instrument, a pre-test was done. Cronbach’s alpha reliability test was done on 32 number of items and the score was 0.817 (82%), which indicated that the scale had high internal consistency. Descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and Inferential (Pearson product moment correlation coefficient, and Linear regression model were carried out to determine the association of each factor that influenced adoption of EMRs. The Overall mean score and standard deviation of the effects of User factor on adoption of EMRs was (4.0+0.46). Hence the average effectiveness of User factor on adoption of EMRs was 4.0 points, showing acceptance of the adoption of EMRs. Pearson correlation showed an existence of a significant moderate and positive association among User factor with adoption of EMRs (r=0.410, P=0.000). This implies that User factor positively affects adoption of EMRs. Furthermore, linear regression was employed to assess the association between User factor and adoption of EMRs the result showed that User factor ( =0.410, t=8.626, p=0.001) positively predict adoption of EMRs. Therefore, a unit increase in User factor contributes to an increase of adoption of EMRs by 0.343 times, and this was statistically significant (p=0.001). Despite User factor to be a predictor for adoption of EMRs, the hospital the management should intensify on the participation of users in the EMR system implementation and involve them in training on how to use EMR system