Authors: Naser Al-bazzaz, Tony Paget.
Context: Attitude and acceptance can have a decisive role in successful implementation of EHRs. Previous studies of EHR acceptance were either limited to a single user group or had a small sample and a specific context.
Aims: To understand the attitudes towards EHR and factors influencing its acceptance by staff members in Hospital A in Kuwait.
Settings and Design: The data was collected in a Hospital A in Kuwait using the quantitative survey design.
Methods and Material: A survey was distributed to doctors, nurses, administrators and technicians. The 263 questionnaires that were returned (33% response rate) were analysed using descriptive statistics. The first section of the questionnaire contained nominal variables; the remaining data consisted of measures obtained via Likert-type scales treated as ordinal variables and described via the use of medians and modes. Modes were used as measures of central tendency.
Results: The staff of Hospital A had positive attitudes towards EHR and optimistic expectations towards EHR implementation. Attitudes towards EHR were influenced by organizational factors, as well as legal and ethical challenges. The majority of participants felt ready for the changes associated with EHR implementation and perceived the system as useful and believed they could harness the new technology.
Conclusion: The study promotes understanding of staff acceptance of EHR in the context of Kuwait, as well as in the universal context. Our findings can be used to inform the government, policy makers and hospital management on best practices of EHR implementation.
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