Barriers to the Adoption and Use of an Electronic Medication Record

Clinicians’ adoption of the information systems deployed at hospitals is crucial to achieving the intended effects of the systems, yet many systems face substantial adoption barriers. In this study we analyse the adoption and use of an electronic medication record (EMR) 2-4 years after its deployment. We investigate mid-and-lower-level managers’ perception of (a) the extent to which clinicians have adopted the EMR and the work procedures associated with its use and (b) possible barriers toward adopting the EMR and work procedures, including the managers’ perception of the usefulness and ease of use of the EMR. The investigation consists of a questionnaire survey sent to the EMR managers in one Danish healthcare region, followed up with interviews at two hospital wards. The EMR is generally perceived as useful, yet respondents state that adoption of the EMR and related procedures is far from obtained. Eleven categories of barrier are identified with uncertainty about what the barriers concretely are as the prime barrier. This prime barrier is particularly noteworthy because the respondents are formally responsible for the adoption of the EMR. It is apparent that time alone has not led to consistent adoption of the EMR. We discuss implications of this finding for the organizational implementation of systems such as the EMR.