why general physicians are reluctant to use information technology in their private clinic?

background: communications and information technology revolution has a remarkable effect on economic, social, politic and security of all the world. using of information technology in medicine has many advantages such as improve the quality and effectiveness of care, reduce medical errors, enhance the management of acute and chronic disease, access to updated information, and help to medical decision-making. this study was aimed to determine the status of using information technology in the private clinics of general physicians as well as to find the reasons for unwillingness to use of that. methods: this is a descriptive and applied study done in 1393–94 (2015). the population included general physicians’ clinic in ahvaz (344 clinics) . a questionnaire and a check list were applied to obtain the required information. a test- retest with two weeks interval was used to find out the instruments reliability (r= 0.94) and their validity were confirmed by experts. results: 71.42% and 28.57% out of respondents were male and female respectively. the results showed that 7.2% out of  the participants used of information technology. the physicians believed that the lack of knowledge about how to use of information technology in medical care is an important reason for reluctance to use of information technology. conclusion: although, the practitioners agreed with the use of information technology in medicine, but they still have not accepted the technology in their clinics. keywords: health information technology, medical informatics, general physicians, private clinics