Physicians' attitudes towards ePrescribing: evaluation of a Swedish full-scale implementationShow others and affiliations
2009 (English)In: BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, ISSN 1472-6947, E-ISSN 1472-6947, Vol. 9, no August, p. Article number: 37-
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
BACKGROUND: The penetration rate of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems in health care is increasing. However, many different EHR-systems are used with varying ePrescription designs and functionalities. The aim of the present study was to evaluate experienced ePrescribers' attitudes towards ePrescribing for suggesting improvements. METHODS: Physicians (n = 431) from seven out of the 21 Swedish health care regions, using one of the six most widely implemented EHR-systems with integrated electronic prescribing modules, were recruited from primary care centers and hospital clinics of internal medicine, orthopaedics and surgery. The physicians received a web survey that comprised eight questions on background data and 19 items covering attitudes towards ePrescribing. Forty-two percent (n = 199) of the physicians answered the questionnaire; 90% (n = 180) of the respondents met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final analysis. RESULTS: A majority of the respondents regarded their EHR-system easy to use in general (81%), and for the prescribing of drugs (88%). Most respondents believed they were able to provide the patients better service by ePrescribing (92%), and regarded ePrescriptions to be time saving (91%) and to be safer (83%), compared to handwritten prescriptions. Some of the most frequently reported weaknesses were: not clearly displayed price of drugs (43%), complicated drug choice (21%), and the perception that it was possible to handle more than one patient at a time when ePrescribing (13%). Moreover, 62% reported a lack of receipt from the pharmacy after successful transmission of an ePrescription. Although a majority (73%) of the physicians reported that they were always or often checking the ePrescription a last time before transmitting, 25% declared that they were seldom or never doing a last check. The respondents suggested a number of improvements, among others, to simplify the drug choice and the cancellation of ePrescriptions. CONCLUSION: The Swedish physicians in the group studied were generally satisfied with their specific EHR-system and with ePrescribing as such. However, identified weaknesses warrant improvements of the EHR-systems as well as of their implementation in the individual health care organisation.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2009. Vol. 9, no August, p. Article number: 37-
Keywords [en]
Electronic Prescribing, Diffusion of Innovation, Attitude to Computers, Health Care Surveys, Computerized Medical Records Systems, Physicians, Sweden
Keywords [sv]
Elektronisk förskrivning, e-recept, läkare, enkät
National Category
Medical and Health Sciences
Research subject
Health and Caring Sciences, Health Informatics
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hik:diva-2669DOI: 10.1186/1472-6947-9-37PubMedID: 19664219OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hik-2669DiVA, id: diva2:293949
2010-06-022010-02-152017-12-12Bibliographically approved