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From the Front Line, Report from a Near Paperless Hospital: Mixed Reception Among Health Care Professionals

^a Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
^b Rikshospitalet University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
^c Sørlandet Hospital HF, Arendal, Norway
^d Norwegian Research Centre for Electronic Patient Records, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway

^_* Correspondence and reprints: Jan-Tore Lium, MSc, Norwegian Research Centre for Electronic Patient Records, Medisinsk teknisk forskningssenter, 7489 Trondheim, Norway. (Email: jan.tore.lium{at}iot.ntnu.no).

Received for publication: 03/21/06; accepted for publication: 07/17/06.

OBJECTIVE: Many Norwegian hospitals that are equipped with an electronic medical record (EMR) system now have proceeded to withdraw the paper-based medical record from clinical workflow. In two previous survey-based studies on the effect of removing the paper-based medical record on the work of physicians, nurses and medical secretaries, we concluded that to scan and eliminate the paper based record was feasible, but that the medical secretaries were the group that reported to benefit the most from the change. To further explore the effects of removing the paper based record, especially in regard to medical personnel, we now have conducted a follow up study of a hospital that has scanned and eliminated its paper-based record.

DESIGN: A survey of 27 physicians, 60 nurses and 30 medical secretaries was conducted. The results were compared with those from a previous study conducted three years earlier at the same department.

MEASUREMENTS: The questionnaire (see online Appendix) covered the frequency of use of the EMR system for specific tasks by physicians, nurses and medical secretaries, the ease of performing these tasks compared to previous routines, user satisfaction and computer literacy.

RESULTS: Both physicians and nurses displayed increased use of the EMR compared to the previous study, while medical secretaries reported generally unchanged but high use.

CONCLUSION: The increase in use was not accompanied by a similar change in factors such as computer literacy or technical changes, suggesting that these typical success factors are necessary but not sufficient.