application of medical records in research from the viewpoint of isfahan educational hospitals' researchers

introduction: nowadays, researches are used in various disciplines of science as a powerful means of evaluating the latest scientific achievements. the most important source in medical studies, however, seems to be patients' documents in hospitals' archives. the basic aim of this study was to determine the importance and the application of medical records in doing researches from the viewpoint of isfahan's educational hospitals' researchers. methods: this research was descriptive – cross sectional. a sample of 300 researchers was randomly chosen and studied in our survey. data collection was performed via use of selfquestionnaire according to the research aims during spring and summer of 2005. findings were analyzed with descriptive-statistical methods within the spss. results: the cause of researchers' reluctance to use medical records in their studies was 37.5% due to incomplete information of the records and illegible documents in 31% of cases. the case that researchers used medical records in research was centralized information and easy access. conclusion: accuracy, complements and legibility of medical records during documentation process not only enhances use of medical records by researchers but also enhances validity and reliabilities of finding of researches based on these records.