Electronic Patient Records in an ultra-specialty hospital: An evaluation

Objective: To compare an Electronic Patient Record (EPR) System in practice with Health Information Management System Society Electronic Health Record Definitional Model Version 1.0 (HIMSSv1) and assess the level of satisfaction among healthcare staff about the existing EPR system.Method: The study was conducted in a super-specialty hospital in India. A checklist consisting of 30 features based on HIMSS standard was used to check the compliance of the present EPR in practice. A validated and pre-tested questionnaire, based on a five point Likert scale from ‘strongly agree to strongly disagree’, was used to measure the pre and post implementation EPR satisfaction among 62 healthcare professionals including doctors, nurses and administrative staff. A forum was also established to identify problems and give necessary recommendation to resolve issues involved in the acceptability of the present EPR in practice.Result: It was observed that the EPR was only compliant with 12 features out of 30 in HIMSS. The employee satisfaction survey showed that 73% of doctors and nurses and 59% of administrative staff were dissatisfied with the pre-implementation assessment whereas 57% of doctors, 53% of nurses and 59% of administrative staff were dissatisfied with the customisation of the EPR in practice. A total of 40% of doctors, 53% of nurses and 59% of administrative staff felt that the core incompetency with the present EPR was the present physical infrastructure. The post implementation survey result showed that 90% of doctors, 94% of nurses, and 88% of administrative staff were satisfied with the suggestions and changes to the existing EPR.Conclusion: Understanding the factors that contribute to end user satisfaction and reinforcing them with trainings and awareness adds value and assists in continuous quality improvement, acceptability and sustainability of EPR.