Study: Male med students find EHRs easier to use

Male medical students were more likely than their female counterparts to report that EHRs were easy to use, according to a study published in the AHIMA Foundation's Perspectives in Health Information Management.

The high ease-of-use scores were associated with high scores of computer self-efficacy, openness to change and high levels of "conscientious personality," according to the researchers, who were affiliated with the University of Florida. The study included the responses of 126 third-year medical students. They also wrote that determining medical students' individual beliefs about the usefulness and usability of EHRs can enable medical schools to better tailor EHR training and improve clinicians' acceptance of the systems.

Since EHRs "fundamentally alter" how physicians interact with patients and otherwise perform their work, inadequate technical support and perceptions that EHRs lack value, the authors wrote, will impede adoption and adversely affect satisfaction with EHRs.

"By better understanding individual differences among students and related technology beliefs, educators and administrators can customize medical school curricula and EHR training to maximize physicians' understanding and acceptance of EHRs," the researchers wrote. "Insufficiently flexible strategies decrease system acceptance and user satisfaction while increasing clinical workarounds and other project failures."