Knowledge and Attitude of Eye Care Workers towards Electronic Medical Records in a Tertiary Eye Facility in South-East Nigeria

Abstract

Electronic Medical Records (EMR) has been an integral part of patient management in the developed world but still gradually gaining popularity in the developing world. It was met with resistance by health workers in Nigeria though this is changing in the post COVID era. However, there still appears to be some resistance to its acceptance for different and sometimes justifiable reasons. The aim is to determine the knowledge and attitude towards EMR among eye health workers in a teaching hospital in South East Nigeria. This cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted among consenting consecutive eye care workers at Guinness Eye Centre, Onitsha aged≥ 18years from July to September, 2023. A pretested semi structured self-administered questionnaire was used. Information of interest were biodata, knowledge and attitude towards EMR. They were summarized into simple frequencies and percentages. Knowledge scores were grouped into good and poor using the blooms cut off for knowledge attitude and practice. Univariate and bivariate analysis were done and results represented in tables and charts with levels of significance placed at p<0.05. There was a total of 135 respondents; the mean age was 32.6 years ± 10 SD, male to female ratio of 1:1.1. The result showed good knowledge and positive attitude towards EMR (85.2% and 73.2% respectively) with younger age group, professional cadre and computer literacy found to be associated with good knowledge and positive attitude towards EMR in the population. The hospital/ clinic were the most common sources of EMR information. This study showed good knowledge and positive attitude toward EMR in the study population. It also suggested an association with younger age group, professional cadre and computer literacy.