Technical Factors Affecting Electronic Medical Record System Information Use: A Case of Kakamega County Referral Hospital Outpatient Department

Abstract

The recent worldwide focus on healthcare quality improvement, cost containment and enhanced patient experience has led to increased need for adoption of Electronic Medical Record systems (EMR) ( Waithera L, Muhia J, Songole R , 2017). This technology agitates for paperless transactions health care and would significantly reduce clinician workload and medical errors while saving the institution major expenses. Kenya is globally acclaimed as a leader for its Information Communication Telecommunications (ICT) innovations such as M-PESA (Graham, 2010). Many studies have been done in other countries to study the factors influencing adoption and usage of EMR technology, but a small number of studies exist in Kenyan situation (Ministry of Health, 2010). This study sought to examine why the application of EMR technology has not kept pace with its demand. This study therefore sought to answer two key research questions derived from the study objectives which include the influence of network infrastructure, EMR system design and staff ICT skill levels on information use of electronic medical records technology in a public health institution in Kakamega County The study was guided by technology acceptance model as its theoretical framework (Seok Kim, Kee-Hyuck Lee, Hee Hwang and Sooyoung Yoo, 2016). The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design with a target population of 80 respondents working in Kakamega county referral hospital. A descriptive survey research design was used. Stratified random sampling was embraced to divide the population into homogeneous subgroups as per the professional cadres then did simple random sampling in proportion to their number in the population. A questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale was constructed and used. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS version 23. Both content and construct validity were used to ensure validity of the research instrument’s while reliability was determined by using the Cronbach-Alpha Coefficient. Pilot testing to pre-test and validate the research instruments was done prior to the main study. One of the two hypothesis was rejected, there seemed to exist no significant differences among professionals with regards to EMR information use F (9,62) = 1.745, p > 0.05, one hypothesis was accepted, there seemed to exist a significant relationship between technical factors and EMR information use (r = 0.583, p <0.05). The study recommends that health facilities should increase infrastructure and resources that support EMR use, employees should be supported for further training on EMR operation and suppliers should regularly support and train health staff on how to use EMR effectively. The study results may be useful to hospitals as they gear towards integrating all their process by using technology.