User acceptance of inter-organizational electronic medical records

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of the first stage of an ongoing, longitudinal study into primary care practitioners’ views of an electronic medical records (EMR) system for maternity patients. All doctors and midwives holding maternity care contracts with a large urban hospital in New Zealand were sent a questionnaire soliciting their views on a planned EMR system linking the hospital and the primary care sectors. The questionnaire was based on Davis’ technology acceptance model (TAM) [1]. The results show that while Davis’ two key factors of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness were important to medical professionals, other features of the proposed system and the wider organizational environment also influenced the respondents’ willingness to utilize the proposed system.