Urban Alabama physicians and the electronic medical record: A qualitative study

The electronic medical record (EMR) is an information technology tool supporting the examination, treatment, and care of a patient. The EMR allows physicians to view a patient's record showing current medications, a history of visits from health care providers with notes from those visits, a problem list, a functional status assessment, a schedule of preventive services, contact information for family caregivers, guidelines for proper care, and clinical decision support. A qualitative Husserlian, descriptive phenomenology research design was chosen to understand how urban Alabama physicians experience using the EMR after having used the paper chart. The participants were chosen through purposive sampling and ten physicians from one urban hospital in Alabama that had implemented the EMR were recruited for the study. Semi-structured, open-ended interview questions served as the method of data collection. Central themes were identified that expressed the overall essence of the participants' experiences with the EMR such as: (1) physicians' perception of how the EMR is beneficial in the workplace, (2) features of the EMR perceived to help with workflow, (3) physician's perceptions that the EMR does not change quality of care, and (3) the EMR is perceived to have issues in terms of output and functionality. Common themes also emerged from the participants' experiences with the EMR after having used the paper chart. Implications for practice were discussed. Recommendations for future research were presented.