How much can a clinician’s gender and attitude dictate how easily they will adopt new health information technologies? A lot, according to a study published in the January edition of the research journal Perspectives in Health Information Management.
Researchers studying third-year medical students found that men more than women were confident in their own ability to use electronic health records and that this confidence generally led to a higher perceived ease of use and higher satisfaction with EHRs by the student. Researchers also reported that students who were more organized and achievement-oriented expected and later found their EHR system to be easy to use.
Researchers said health-care organizations should keep in mind the attitudes of their providers when adopting new technologies and allocating IT support services. Providers who are skeptical of the usefulness of new technologies generally need more assistance adopting those technologies than those optimistic about their usefulness. Source
