Increasing physician acceptance and use of the computerized ambulatory medical record

Because physicians have been reluctant to accept computerized medical records systems, we sought to identify the barriers to acceptance and redesigned our ambulatory records system accordingly. We identified several problems physicians encounter in using our computerized medical record system (COSTAR), including physicians' hesitation to use a computer in front of their patients, physicians' poor keyboard skills, and the structural organization of the computerized medical record. We formed a users group to educate users and the group has helped identify solutions to these problems. We equipped the exam room terminals with a user-friendly, patient-specific menu. We created a new physician interface for COSTAR that was organized to function similarly to a patient's chart and features user-friendly menus that provide cues to the unsophisticated user. Physician use of exam room terminals tripled after the installation of the exam room menu. The new physician interface doubled physician use of COSTAR's scheduling features. Acceptance of the new interface as gauged by a user survey was excellent, with the majority stating it improved their patient care.