Physicians perceptions of an educational support system integrated into an electronic health record

The purpose of this study is to determine the perceptions by physicians of an educational system integrated into an electronic health record (EHR). Traditional approaches to continuous medical education (CME) have not shown improvement in patient health care outcomes. Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires (HIBA) has implemented a system that embeds information pearls into the EHR, providing learning opportunities that are integrated into the patient care process. This study explores the acceptability and general perceptions of the system by physicians when they are in the consulting room. We interviewed 12 physicians after one or two weeks of using this CME system and we performed a thematic analysis of these interviews. The themes that emerged were use and ease of use of the system; value physicians gave to the system; educational impact on physicians; respect for the individual learning styles; content available in the system; and barriers that were present or absent for using the CME system. We found that the integrated CME system developed at HIBA was well accepted and perceived as useful and easy to use. Future work will involve modifications to the system interface, expansion of the content offered and further evaluation.