Vol 58: january • janVier 2012
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Canadian Family Physician•Le Médecin de famille canadiene21
Trends in the use of electronic medical records
Suzanne C. Biro
MPHDavid T. Barber
MD CCFPJyoti A. Kotecha
MPA CChem MRSCA
comparison between the results of the 2007 and the 2010 National Physician Survey (NPS) shows that exclusive use of electronic medical records (EMRs) by family physicians, general physicians, and other special- ists across Canada has increased from 10% to 16%. The province of Alberta leads the way with 28% of physi- cians exclusively using EMRs, followed by Ontario (20%) and British Columbia (19%) (Figure 1).Some physicians in all provinces use a combination of EMRs and paper charts. The combined use of EMRs and paper charts by physicians increased from 26% to 34% over 3 years (Figure 2). The most recent 2010 data showed that 39% of physicians used electronic records to enter and retrieve clinical patient notes, 20% used electronic reminders for recommended patient care, and 20% used electronic warnings for adverse prescribing and drug interactions.
The trends are encouraging because the adoption of health technology systems enhances physicians’ percep- tions of preparation for managing patients with chronic diseases, increases their ability to document and fol- low up on adverse events, and improves the imple- mentation of clinical practice guidelines.1 Data from the 2006 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Physicians showed that Canada lagged behind in the use of EMRs compared with other countries.1 For example, 23% of primary care physicians used EMRs in Canada compared with 89% in the United Kingdom and 28% in the United States.2 This was owing, in part, to concerns regarding cost, security, privacy,
workload, design, and technology.3 However, a recent Ontario survey suggests physicians are gaining confi- dence in EMR use for improving the quality of patient care and practice management.4 The continued substan- tive investment in health technology systems for pri- mary care practices promises increased use of EMRs in Canada in the future.
The NPS is a collaborative project of the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Canadian Medical Association, and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Additional results are available at www.nationalphysiciansurvey.ca. If you would like the opportunity to develop a future Fast Fact using the NPS results, please contact Artem Safarov, National Physician Survey Project Manager, at 800 387-6197, extension 242, or asafarov@cfpc.ca.
Ms Biro is Research Associate, Dr Barber is Assistant Professor, and Ms Kotecha is Assistant Director and Adjunct Lecturer, all at the Centre for Studies in Primary Care at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont.
Competing interests None declared references
1. Davis K, McEvoy Doty M, Shea K, Stremikis K. Health information technology and physician perceptions of quality of care and satisfaction. Health Policy 2009;90(2-3):239-46.
2. Leatherman S, Sutherland K. Quality of healthcare in Canada: a chartbook.
Ottawa, ON: Canadian Health Services Foundation; 2010. Available from:
www.chsrf.ca/migrated/pdf/chartbook/CHARTBOOK%20Eng_June_
withdate.pdf. Accessed 2011 Nov 15.
3. McGinn CA, Grenier S, Duplantie J, Shaw N, Sicotte C, Mathieu L, et al.
Comparison of user groups’ perspectives of barriers and facilitators to imple- menting electronic health records: a systematic review. BMC Med 2011;9:46.
4. Webster PC. Ontario survey indicates increasing reliance on electronic medi- cal records. CMAJ 2011;183(1):E54-5.
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EMR—electronic medical record.
*Family physicians, GPs, and other specialists were combined into a single group owing to small sample size. Where there are no values, data were suppressed owing to small sample size.
Figure 1. Proportion of physicians for whom EMRs are the
exclusive record-keeping system, by province Figure 2. Proportion of physicians who use a combination of paper charts and EMRs, by province
PHYSICIANS, % PHYSICIANS, %
PROVINCE PROVINCE
30 25 20 15 10 5 0
60 50 40 30 20 10 0
NL PE NS NB QC ON MB SK AB BC Territories*Canada
2007 2010 2007
2010
NL PE NS NB QC ON MB SK AB BC Territories*Canada
