New Zealand general practice computerisation; attitudes and reported behaviour

To gather information from general practitioners regarding aspects of computerisation including whether certain tasks should be computerised and whether those tasks were in fact computerised at their practice.

Five hundred general practitioners randomly selected throughout New Zealand were sent a postal survey in May 1995. Results were then collated and analysed.

The response rate was 54% (268). Computerisation is becoming a necessity according to 85% of responders and a computer was used for at least one task by 84% of doctors. Computer use during consultation interfered unduly with doctor-patient communication according to 43% of responders. Privacy issues had not been dealt with adequately for 33% of responders. The five most frequently computerised tasks were; maintaining an age-sex register (81% of responders), recalls (80%), administration (77%), making appointments (50%) and word processing (49%). The number of doctors in a practice and responders' RNZCGP membership status appeared predictive of task computerisation. Responders' gender, year of graduation and their membership on the Indicative General Practitioners Register were not statistically significant factors for determining attitudinal and behavioural responses.

The low response rate limits generalisation but the trends in the results are important. Reported tasks with greatest potential for computerisation were doctor education; checking drug interactions/contraindications; patient education; tasks relating to interfacing with laboratories; and database enquires of patients. Significant concerns among responders were perceived interference with doctor patient communication and privacy issues. Eighty-four percent of responders use the computer for at least one task.