Knowledge, Attitude, And Perception Of Health Workers Towards Electronic Health Record System (A Case Study Of Uduth, Sokoto)

Abstract

Background: Electronic Health Records System (EHRS) has shown a lot of advantages over the conventional paper based medical records. Its use has grown rapidly in the developed world and yet most African nations are still lagging behind. In Nigeria, the penetration of EHRS is low with less than 10.0% of hospitals embracing it.Factors responsible for this low penetration or use of EHRS in Nigeria include interoperability issues, epileptic power supply, cost of installation, resistance to change, health providers' and patients' poor orientation. This study aimed to assess level of knowledge, attitude and perception of health care workers on the use of EHRS in Usmanu Danfodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto. Methodology: Cross sectional study was conducted in June, 2023 among 132 healthcare workers that were randomly selected using stratified sampling technique. Pre-tested structured self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was cleaned and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 21.0. Univariate analysis to generate summary statistics, proportions and frequency tables was conducted. While Bivariate analysis was conducted to identify variables that were significantly associated with respondents knowledge, attitude and perception at a P-value of <0.05. Results: Majority (70%) of the respondents had good knowledge of EMR and 30% had bad knowledge. 84% of the respondents had positive attitude towards EHRS while 86% of them had positive perceptions on EHRS. Doctors were 85.0% less likely to be knowledgeable about EMR than other healthcare workers (aOR 0.150; 95% CI 0.030 - 0.748). Respondents that were computer literate were 30.0% more likely to be knowledgeable than those who were not (aOR 1.297; 95% CI 3.885 – 4.330) and those that had computer training were 13.0% more likely to be knowledgeable than those who were not (aOR 1.126; 95% CI 0.032 – 0.501). A greater proportion of respondents with good knowledge 90(96.8%) had a good attitude, the result was statistically significant (X2<37.85, p=0.01) A greater portion of the respondents with good attitudes had good perception 108(95.6%) as compared to respondents, with poor attitudes 16(46.2%) the association was statistically significant (χ2=77.39, p <0.01). A greater proportion of respondents with good knowledge had good practice compared to those with poor knowledge. However, the result was not statistically significant feχ2=2.330, p=0.169). Conclusion: majority of the respondents had good knowledge 92(70%), good attitude110 (84%) and good perception towards EHR 114(86%). As such government support and funding of electronic health system in health facilities is recommended.