Predictors of Anesthesiologists' attitude toward EHRs in Saudi Arabia for clinical practice

The implementation of medical technology in everyday clinical practice is not as well perceived in some countries when compared to others. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) reflect some evidence of how the technology has been adopted and which is the overall attitude of medical staff toward healthcare technology in hospitals and healthcare supplying organizations. In developing countries including Saudi Arabia, only a little amount of attention has been paid to exploring the level at which anesthesiologists, as end-users, perceive EHRs systems and subsequently apply them in clinical practice. Objectives: To explore anesthesiologists' perceptions about the impact, benefits, easy of use of EHRs and anesthesia specific features. The set of predictors affecting these features (age, experience, job rank, and EHRs experience) were investigated and comprehensively analyzed. Methods: An exploratory study was conducted targeting anesthesiologists from different hospitals of Saudi Arabia using a comprehensive questionnaire about the adoption and perception of EHRs. Responses of participants were collected and analyzed with various statistical methods. Results: Anesthesiologists overall demonstrated a positive perception with regard to the impact, benefits, easy of use and anesthesia-specific features of EHRs to themselves and to their specific specialty. Statistically significant correlations were found among the age, experience rank of respondents’ EHRs experience and the attitude toward using different tools and features of the available EHRs. The general perceived attitude toward anesthesiology-oriented features of EHRs was clearly expressed and the comparisons between subgroups of each prediction factor showed a clear variability in use among participants. These results can be used not only in planning but in designing and improving of healthcare management as well.