Abstract:
Background: Electronic medical record systems are increasingly incorporated into the
healthcare systems of developing countries to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the
health care institutions. Despite the high expectations and interest in adopting and using EMR
systems in Ethiopia lasts for more than ten years, its overall adoption rate is low. Among the
challenges with Electronic Medical Records implementations in Ethiopia, health professional
attitude to the new technology is the major problem as the management system witnessed from
the three fully Electronic Medical Record implementing hospitals. So knowing the factors
affecting health professional’s attitude towards the implementation of Electronic Medical Record
system is crucial for the sustainable use of the system throughout the country.
Objective: The aim of this study was; to assess attitude and associated factors towards
implementation of electronic medical record by health professionals in Ethiopian, 2023.
Methods: Multi centered cross-sectional study design was conducted in piloted hospitals in
Ethiopia from April 30-May 15, 2023. Systematic random sampling technique was used to select
a total of 397 samples among three selected hospitals. Self-administered questionnaire was used
to collect relevant data in the study. The collected data was cleaned, coded and entered to Epi
data software (4.6) and exported to SPSS version 25 for further cleaning and analysis. A binary
logistic regression model was performed, and variables with p-values less than 0.25 were
analyzed with multivariable logistic regression. A p-value of less than 0.05 and adjusted odds
ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to declare the associated factors.
Result: A total of 397 health professionals participated in the study with a response rate of
96.2%. Among the respondents, 184(48.2%) had favorable attitude towards implementation of
EMR system. In multivariate analysis, age <=29 years (AOR: 3.05; 95% CI: 1.58, 5.9), computer
literacy (AOR: 2.66; 95% CI: 1.16-6.09), training on the EMR system (AOR: 2.87; 95% CI:
1.80-4.56)) and health professionals’ knowledge on EMR (AOR: 1.8; 95% CI: 1.10-2.96) had
significant association with attitude.
Conclusion: Nearly half of the respondents had low attitude towards the implementation of
Electronic medical record and age, knowledge, computer literacy and training access had
statistically significant association to the attitude towards Electronic medical record system.
Keyword: Electronic Medical Record, Attitude towards Electronic Medical Record
Implementation, Ethiopia.
