Abstract
The study sought to find the types of electronic records that are used at selected private health institutions in Zimbabwe and establish the perceptions of medical and nursing staff towards the electronic records. The study also examined the challenges that are faced by private health institutions' medical and nursing staff when using electronic records, and some solutions to these challenges were proffered. Purposive sampling was used to select institutions that participated in the study. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from medical and nursing staff from the selected institutions. The study confirms that medical and nursing staffs' perceptions towards electronic records are positive, but knowledge about and usage of electronic records are relatively in their infancy at the private health institutions studied. However, uptake of electronic records is significantly going up as the institutions grapple to match global standards.
TopBackground And Literature Review
Several studies have been conducted on the perceptions of various professionals towards electronic records. For instance, Graser (2011) carried out a study on the acceptance of electronic medical records by Canadian forces where he found out that adoption of electronic records was low despite the benefits electronic records could bring. Veer and Francke (2009) report that nursing staff acknowledged that electronic records facilitated improved healthcare although there would be increased costs of medical care following the adoption of electronic records. Porter (2013) laments the slow adoption of electronic records by doctors and other caregivers and Dimitrovski (2013) concurs and reports that healthcare professionals were reluctant to adopt electronic health records (EHRs) in their daily practice. On the contrary, Kirshbaum (2008) conducted a study in the United Kingdom (UK) where she found out that most of the participants in her study demonstrated positive attitudes towards EHRs. Similar findings are reported by O’Malley, Berry and Sharp (2010) who conducted a study on the acceptance of EHRs by health professionals in Ireland.
In a study conducted by Shaw, et al. (2011) it was found out that even though medical personnel were using electronic medical records in their practice, the medical personnel reported that they were realising very few benefits out of the electronic records. The study also reveals that participants lacked financial and human resource support to effectively utilise the electronic records. However, a study by Moody, et al. (2004) shows that health personnel were in favour of using EHRs because they resulted in decreased workload. Msukwa (2011) conducted a similar study in Malawi where it was found out that health personnel preferred using electronic medical records to paper records because the former enabled efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery.
There are various types of electronic records that could be used by medical and nursing staff. First, it is important to provide some definition of what an electronic record is. The Florida Department of State (2010) defines an electronic record as any information that is recorded in machine readable form. Examples of electronic records include numeric, audio, graphic, video and textual information that is recorded or transmitted in analog or digital format. Such records include spreadsheets, word processing files, databases, electronic mail, instant messages, scanned images, digital photographs and multimedia files.
Second, a definition of an electronic health record is important to put the study into proper context. O’Malley, Berry and Sharp (2010) posit that an electronic health record (EHR) is any comprehensive, longitudinal record with no specified user community, functionality or delineated-scope information capture. The authors define and electronic health record as a repository of information regarding the health status of a subject of care in a computer-processable form, stored and transmitted securely, and accessible by multiple authorised users. Huang and Shih (n.d) define EHRs or medical records as records of medical institutions and professionals engaged in medical work on patients, including but not limited to inspections, diagnoses and treatment processes.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Public Record: Record created or received and maintained in any public sector agency.
Electronic Record: A digital record that can be manipulated, transmitted or processed by a computer.
Private Record: Record created, received, and maintained by non-governmental organisations, families, or individuals relating to their private and public affairs.
Medical Staff: Hospital or health services staff fully authorised by law and given privileges to provide patient care services independently. Medical staff include physicians and dentists.
Nursing Staff: Hospital or health services staff whose responsibility is to promote health, prevent illness, care for the ill, the disabled, and dying people.
Record: A document regardless of form or medium created, received, maintained, and used by an organisation or private individual in pursuance of legal obligations or in business transactions of which it forms part or provides evidence.