Applying Electronic Medical Records

Background: In order to fulfill comprehensive interoperability and recognize the electronic medical

records (EMRs’) benefits, physicians’ attitudes toward using and applying EMR must be recognized.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to present an integrated model of applying EMRs by

physicians.

Methods: This was a cross sectional study in which a sample of 330 physicians working in hospi-

tals affiliated to the Tehran University of medical sciences (TUMS) was selected. Physicians’ atti-

tudes toward using and accepting EMR in health care have been analyzed by an integrated model

of two classical theories i.e. technology acceptance model (TAM) and diffusion of innovation (DOI).

The model was tested using an empirical survey. The final model was tested by structural equation

modeling (SEM) and represented by Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS).

Results: The results suggest that the hybrid model explains about 43 percent of the variance of

using and accepting of EMRs (R2=0.43). The findings also evidenced that Perceived Usefulness

(PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU), Relative Advantage, Compatibility, Complicatedness and Train-

ability have direct and significant effect on physicians’ attitudes toward using and accepting EMRs.

But concerning observeability, significant path coefficient was not reported.

Conclusions: The integrated model supplies purposeful intuition for elucidates and anticipates of

physicians’ behaviors in EMRs adoption. The study identified six relevant factors that affect using

and applying EMRs that should be subsequently the major concern of health organizations and

health policy makers.