Experiences Sharing of Implementing Template-Based Electronic Medical Record System (TEMRS) in a Hong Kong Medical Organization

• Published in: Journal of medical systems 2011-12, Vol.35 (6), p.1605-1615
• Main Authors: Ting, S. L., Kwok, S. K., Tsang, Albert H. C., Lee, W. B., Yee, K. F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Clinics; Consumer Behavior; Decision Support Systems, Clinical - organization & administration; Diagnosis; Diagnostic systems; Electronic health records; Feedback; Health care networks; Health Informatics; Health Sciences; Hong Kong; Humans; Information sharing; Information Storage and Retrieval; Inservice Training - organization & administration; Interviews as Topic; Medical; Medical Records Systems, Computerized - organization & administration; Medical services; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Original Paper; Patients; Standardization; Statistics for Life Sciences; Surveys and Questionnaires; User-Computer Interface
• ISSN: 0148-5598; 1573-689X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10916-010-9436-9

This paper aims to investigate the efficacy and feasibility of Template-based Electronic Medical Record System (TEMRS) and factors for its successful implementation. A TEMRS was designed and implemented in one core clinic of a Hong Kong professional multi-disciplinary medical services provider with four core clinics located in different parts of Hong Kong. Eight doctors participated in the study. Surveys and interviews were conducted to acquire the users’ feedback and satisfaction level. The design, development, and the factors related to the success of the implementation of TEMRS were analyzed. In the study period, 3,032 cases were collected. The most encountered diagnosis were upper respiratory tract infection (50.59%), gastroenteritis (10.19%), dermatitis (5.87%), dyspepsia (5.28%) and rhinitis (4.82%). The system gained an overall satisfaction by the users and the most satisfied areas were rapid retrieving the necessary information of patient (75%) and fasten the diagnostic selection (75%). TEMRS is an enabling system which can reduce the user resistance in new technology with its flexibility. The consideration of cost, security, human, technical, data migration and standardization issues are essential in the implementation of the TEMRS and further research should be conducted to expand the TEMRS’s implementation in health care system.