The effects of environmental, operational, and organizational factors on the usage of and satisfaction with electronic medical records

Abstract

This study examined the correlation between environmental, operational, organizational, and error-producing latent conditions and the clinicians' perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and satisfaction associated with electronic medical record (EMR) use in the emergency department (ED) via structural equation modeling. This descriptive study assessed 200 ED physicians and nurses employed by hospitals in South Korea. Clinicians' satisfaction with EMR use was assessed using a conceptual path model from the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety with various contextual factors. The results indicated that the newly proposed model satisfied the standard of model fitness. Moreover, operational and organizational factors, error-producing latent conditions, perceived EMR-related errors, and perceived ease of use had direct and significant effects on satisfaction with EMR. However, environmental factors and perceived usefulness showed no significant effect on error-producing latent conditions or satisfaction with EMR. A considerable portion of EMR use in the ED is controlled by operational and organizational factors. These factors should be considered by health organizations and health policymakers.