Health information technology adoption in New Zealand optometric practices

Health information technology (HIT) has the potential to fundamentally change the practice of optometry and the relationship between optometrists and patients and to improve clinical outcomes. This paper aims to provide data on how health information technology is currently being used in New Zealand optometric practices. Also this paper aims to explore the potential benefits and barriers to the future adoption of health information technology in New Zealand.

One hundred and six New Zealand optometrists were surveyed about their current use of health information technology and about potential benefits and barriers. In addition, 12 semi-structured interviews were carried out with leaders of health information technology in New Zealand optometry. The areas of interest were the current and intended use of HIT, the potential benefits of and barriers to using HIT in optometric offices and the level of investment in health information technology.

Nearly all optometrists (98.7 per cent) in New Zealand use computers in their practices and 93.4 per cent of them use a computer in their consulting room. The most commonly used clinical assessment technology in optometric practices in New Zealand was automated perimeter (97.1 per cent), followed by a digital fundus/retinal camera (82.6 per cent) and automated lensometer (62.9 per cent). The pachymeter is the technology that most respondents intended to purchase in the next one to five years (42.6 per cent), followed by a scanning laser ophthalmoscope (36.8 per cent) and corneal topographer (32.9 per cent). The main benefits of using health information technology in optometric practices were improving patient perceptions of ‘state of the art’ practice and providing patients with information and digital images to explain the results of assessment. Barriers to the adoption of HIT included the need for frequent technology upgrades, cost, lack of time for implementation, and training.

New Zealand optometrists are using HIT broadly in their practices and expect HIT use to increase over time.