Physician Interaction with Electronic Health Records: The Influences on Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants

The integration of EHR (Electronic Health Records) in IT infrastructures supporting organizations enable improved access to and recording of patient data, enhanced ability to make better and more-timely decisions, and improved quality and reduced errors. Despite these benefits, there are mixed results as to the use of EHR. The literature suggests that the reasons for the limited use relate to policy, financial and usability considerations, but it does not provide an understanding of reasons for physicians' limited interaction and adaptation of EHR. Following an analysis of qualitative data, collected in a case study at a hospital using interviews, this research explains how physicians interact with EHR. The key contribution of this research is explaining how physicians interact with EHR in terms of concepts that are grounded in the real world experiences of physicians.