Project 170797

Electronic health Record (EHR) systems have the potential to improve patient safety and quality of care, as well as reduce the costs associated with health care. Canada is still lagging behind other developed countries in the adoption and use of EHR, especially in primary care. Efforts to close this gap, with investments of billions of dollars are made, both at the federal and provincial levels. Much of the present efforts concentrate on facilitating the purchase of EHR systems by clinicians. As these efforts are likely to result in more physicians using EHR systems, it becomes important to ensure that these systems are being used effectively. One factor, which may contribute to the success of EHRs is the support provided to the end-user. Support, broadly defined, may be provided by formal bodies (e.g. the vendor's support unit), or informally by colleagues and other non-official information sources. it encompasses a wide variety of activities ranging from hardware and software installation, through maintanance and technical problem solving to training and consultation. A better understanding of end-user support will allow adapting it to the needs of practitioners and the primary care setting. This will enable practitioners to better use EHR systems, and will ultimately lead to improved or more efficient family health care In this study, we propose to investigate the ways in which end-user support affects a number of EHR success factors: a) the quality of EHR systems; b) the quality of the information documented in EHRs; c) the way clinicians use the system; d) user satisfaction and e) the impact on quality of care at the individual and system levels. We will employ a case study approach, using primarily qualitative methods such as document analysis, interviews, focus groups and shadowing.

case study approach using qualitative methods to investigate end-user support for EHR implementation