Meade Brian, Buckley Donal, Boland Michael
Irish College of General Practitioners, 4-5 Lincoln Place, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Int J Med Inform. 2009 Aug;78(8):551-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2009.03.004. Epub 2009 Apr 16.
The use of electronic patient records (EPR) by Irish GPs has grown substantially over the past decade but a significant number of GPs continue to use manual record systems.
This study attempts to determine the factors which affect the uptake of an EPR by Irish GPs.
Two national postal surveys of Irish General Practitioners (GPs) were carried out in 2000 and again in 2003. Response rates were 69% (n=1543) and 60% (n=1408), respectively.
The data collected reveal that electronic patient records are in widespread use among Irish general practitioners. Furthermore the study shows that the use of electronic patient records for common clinical and administrative tasks is increasing. Comparative analysis of the data revealed statistically significant differences between subgroups of responders. GPs were more likely to use an EPR for clinical tasks if they were young and male. GPs in group practice and GPs with mostly state-funded patient lists were more likely to use an EPR as were GPs in rural locations. Much higher use of an EPR for clinical tasks was found among GPs who were involved in the training of newly qualified GPs. The most significant perceived barrier preventing GPs migrating from manual to electronic records was "lack of time". While lack of financial resources and absence of computer skills were also perceived as barriers, these were found to be less significant.
While the increasing use of an EPR among younger GPs was expected, the lower usage among female GPs and those in urban locations was not and has not been previously reported. The data has important implications for the planned roll out of electronic patient records as outlined in Ireland's National Health Information Strategy.
在过去十年中，爱尔兰全科医生对电子病历（EPR）的使用大幅增加，但仍有相当数量的全科医生继续使用手工记录系统。
本研究旨在确定影响爱尔兰全科医生采用电子病历的因素。
2000年和2003年对爱尔兰全科医生进行了两次全国邮政调查。回复率分别为69%（n = 1543）和60%（n = 1408）。
收集的数据显示，电子病历在爱尔兰全科医生中广泛使用。此外，研究表明，电子病历在常见临床和管理任务中的使用正在增加。对数据的比较分析显示，不同回复者亚组之间存在统计学上的显著差异。年轻男性全科医生更有可能在临床任务中使用电子病历。团体执业的全科医生以及患者名单大多由国家资助的全科医生，与农村地区的全科医生一样，更有可能使用电子病历。在参与新获得资格的全科医生培训的全科医生中，发现他们在临床任务中使用电子病历的比例要高得多。阻碍全科医生从手工记录转向电子记录的最主要障碍是“缺乏时间”。虽然缺乏资金和计算机技能也被视为障碍，但发现这些障碍的影响较小。
虽然预计年轻全科医生对电子病历的使用会增加，但女性全科医生和城市地区全科医生的使用率较低，这一点此前未被报道，也在意料之外。这些数据对爱尔兰国家卫生信息战略中概述的电子病历计划推广具有重要意义。
