Impact of electronic medical record on physician practice in office settings: a systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Increased investments are being made for electronic medical records (EMRs) in Canada. There is a need to learn from earlier EMR studies on their impact on physician practice in office settings. To address this need, we conducted a sy...

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Main Authors: Lau Francis, Price Morgan, Boyd Jeanette, Partridge Colin, Bell Heidi, Raworth Rebecca
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2012-02-01
Series:BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making
Online Access:http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6947/12/10
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author Lau Francis
Price Morgan
Boyd Jeanette
Partridge Colin
Bell Heidi
Raworth Rebecca
author_facet Lau Francis
Price Morgan
Boyd Jeanette
Partridge Colin
Bell Heidi
Raworth Rebecca
author_sort Lau Francis
collection DOAJ
description <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Increased investments are being made for electronic medical records (EMRs) in Canada. There is a need to learn from earlier EMR studies on their impact on physician practice in office settings. To address this need, we conducted a systematic review to examine the impact of EMRs in the physician office, factors that influenced their success, and the lessons learned.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For this review we included publications cited in Medline and CINAHL between 2000 and 2009 on physician office EMRs. Studies were included if they evaluated the impact of EMR on physician practice in office settings. The Clinical Adoption Framework provided a conceptual scheme to make sense of the findings and allow for future comparison/alignment to other Canadian eHealth initiatives.</p> <p>In the final selection, we included 27 controlled and 16 descriptive studies. We examined six areas: prescribing support, disease management, clinical documentation, work practice, preventive care, and patient-physician interaction. Overall, 22/43 studies (51.2%) and 50/109 individual measures (45.9%) showed positive impacts, 18.6% studies and 18.3% measures had negative impacts, while the remaining had no effect. Forty-eight distinct factors were identified that influenced EMR success. Several lessons learned were repeated across studies: (a) having robust EMR features that support clinical use; (b) redesigning EMR-supported work practices for optimal fit; (c) demonstrating value for money; (d) having realistic expectations on implementation; and (e) engaging patients in the process.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Currently there is limited positive EMR impact in the physician office. To improve EMR success one needs to draw on the lessons from previous studies such as those in this review.</p>
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spelling doaj.art-b2bb44835e7141a883ee6307defc24cf2022-12-22T01:28:01ZengBMCBMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making1472-69472012-02-011211010.1186/1472-6947-12-10Impact of electronic medical record on physician practice in office settings: a systematic reviewLau FrancisPrice MorganBoyd JeanettePartridge ColinBell HeidiRaworth Rebecca<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Increased investments are being made for electronic medical records (EMRs) in Canada. There is a need to learn from earlier EMR studies on their impact on physician practice in office settings. To address this need, we conducted a systematic review to examine the impact of EMRs in the physician office, factors that influenced their success, and the lessons learned.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For this review we included publications cited in Medline and CINAHL between 2000 and 2009 on physician office EMRs. Studies were included if they evaluated the impact of EMR on physician practice in office settings. The Clinical Adoption Framework provided a conceptual scheme to make sense of the findings and allow for future comparison/alignment to other Canadian eHealth initiatives.</p> <p>In the final selection, we included 27 controlled and 16 descriptive studies. We examined six areas: prescribing support, disease management, clinical documentation, work practice, preventive care, and patient-physician interaction. Overall, 22/43 studies (51.2%) and 50/109 individual measures (45.9%) showed positive impacts, 18.6% studies and 18.3% measures had negative impacts, while the remaining had no effect. Forty-eight distinct factors were identified that influenced EMR success. Several lessons learned were repeated across studies: (a) having robust EMR features that support clinical use; (b) redesigning EMR-supported work practices for optimal fit; (c) demonstrating value for money; (d) having realistic expectations on implementation; and (e) engaging patients in the process.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Currently there is limited positive EMR impact in the physician office. To improve EMR success one needs to draw on the lessons from previous studies such as those in this review.</p>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6947/12/10
spellingShingle Lau Francis
Price Morgan
Boyd Jeanette
Partridge Colin
Bell Heidi
Raworth Rebecca
Impact of electronic medical record on physician practice in office settings: a systematic review
BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making
title Impact of electronic medical record on physician practice in office settings: a systematic review
title_full Impact of electronic medical record on physician practice in office settings: a systematic review
title_fullStr Impact of electronic medical record on physician practice in office settings: a systematic review
title_full_unstemmed Impact of electronic medical record on physician practice in office settings: a systematic review
title_short Impact of electronic medical record on physician practice in office settings: a systematic review
title_sort impact of electronic medical record on physician practice in office settings a systematic review
url http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6947/12/10
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