The Effects of Electronic Health Records on Medical Error Reduction: Extension of the DeLone and McLean Information System Success Model

• Published in: JMIR medical informatics Vol. 12; p. e54572
• Main Authors: Chimbo, Bester, Motsi, Lovemore
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Canada JMIR Publications 16-10-2024
• Subjects: Adult; Efficiency; Electronic Health Records; Female; Health care; Health Personnel; Hospitals; Humans; Hypotheses; Information Systems; Information technology; Male; Medical errors; Medical Errors - prevention & control; Medical Errors - statistics & numerical data; Medical history; Medical records; Original Paper; Public health; Success; Surveys and Questionnaires; Technology Acceptance Model; Variables; information system; patient safety; service quality; information systems; electronic health record; medication error
• ISSN: 2291-9694; 2291-9694
• DOI: 10.2196/54572

Medical errors are becoming a major problem for health care providers and those who design health policies. These errors cause patients' illnesses to worsen over time and can make recovery impossible. For the benefit of patients and the welfare of health care providers, a decrease in these errors is required to maintain safe, high-quality patient care.
This study aimed to improve the ability of health care professionals to diagnose diseases and reduce medical errors.
Data collection was performed at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital using convenience sampling. In total, 300 health care professionals were given a self-administered questionnaire, including doctors, dentists, pharmacists, physiologists, and nurses. To test the study hypotheses, multiple linear regression was used to evaluate empirical data.
In the sample of 300 health care professionals, no significant correlation was found between medical error reduction (MER) and knowledge quality (KQ) (β=.043, P=.48). A nonsignificant negative relationship existed between MER and information quality (IQ) (β=-.080, P=.19). However, a significant positive relationship was observed between MER and electronic health records (EHR; β=.125, 95% CI 0.005-0.245, P=.042).
Increasing patient access to medical records for health care professionals may significantly improve patient health and well-being. The effectiveness of health care organizations' operations can also be increased through better health information systems. To lower medical errors and enhance patient outcomes, policy makers should provide financing and support for EHR adoption as a top priority. Health care administrators should also concentrate on providing staff with the training they need to operate these systems efficiently. Empirical surveys in other public and private hospitals can be used to further test the validated survey instrument.