SOCIAL NETWORKS INFLUENCE EHR ADOPTION

Electronic health records (EHRs) are the latest technological wave to sweep the healthcare industry

. Software to manage these automated patient records have shown amazing results in terms of time and cost savings as well as accuracy and flexibility in reducing the need for storage space, collecting data and exchanging information easily for both small practices and large hospitals.

In spite of all the benefits they offer, statistics show that a mere 6.9 percent of American doctors currently use EHR systems. When compared to Danish doctors, who convey over 90 percent of clinical communication electronically, America seems to be lagging far behind.

However, one of the chief factors that prompted Denmark to become technologically advanced in the field of healthcare seems to be triggering the US too. This factor is the social network of doctors.

According to the May Journal of American Informatics Assn, close personal ties play a large role in prompting skeptics to adopt electronic health records systems. According to a Commonwealth Fund report, the time saved by early adopters of EHR systems has not gone unnoticed by their colleagues. Additionally, when they share their personal experiences on the benefits that maintaining EMRs (electronic medical records) has brought them, it entices aspiring tech-savvy physicians to learn more about them. Add to this the affordability and flexibility of newer EHR systems to understand why more and more doctors opt for them due to a temptation triggered off by their social network.

According to the August Management Science study, the biggest percentages of EHR-adoption influencers were relatively smaller healthcare facilities. Their size proffers them the space to innovate. Combined with their sheer numbers, larger hospitals feel pressurized to jump on the technological bandwagon.

Insights from an empirical study assessing professional, friendship and perceived influence networks revealed that it was the friendship network that significantly influenced doctors to adopt EHR systems. Another study referred to this power of social networking over traditional sales and advertising stimulating the adoption of maintaining health records electronically as "social contagion".

With the rapid increase in social media and the even faster increase in its influence in every imaginable field, it is of little surprise that social networking greatly affects the healthcare sector in the adoption of electronic health records systems.

The Original source of this article is www.foxmeadows.com. For more information on Electronic health records systems, please visit our website.

SOCIAL NETWORKS INFLUENCE EHR ADOPTION

By: David York

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