INVESTIGATING USAGE AND ACCEPTANCE OF ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS SYSTEM AT KAMUZU CENTRAL HOSPITAL, LILONGWE

Abstract

This thesis is about investigating usage and acceptance of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) which is a referral hospital located in Malawi. The Hospital has of late been implementing EMR system with the support from Baobab trust, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, with funding from Center for Disease Control (CDC) specifically to support ART /HIV programs. The research was undertaken because of the need to ascertain usage and acceptance of the system, knowing very well that user acceptance and usage has the potential to make or break a clinical information system implementation (Anderson, 1997; Ash, 2000; Rogoski, 2003). In order to achieve this, the study employed a Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model developed by Venkatesh, (2003) as its theoretical base. Data was collected from the pool of participants that consisted of nurses and physicians from the hospital, particularly those directly involved with the system. The assumption was that these people have knowledge of the system and therefore were better placed to provide an account of the system based on their observations and experiences. A quantitative research methodology was employed as research methodology. Descriptive and reliability statistics calculations were done using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), while hypothesis testing were done using Partial Least Squares (PLS). After analysis, the results demonstrated that the nurses and physicians behavioral intention (BI) to use EMR was influenced by performance expectancy (PE) with readings of (β= 0.30, p < 0.020), Effort Expectancy (EE) (β= 0.121, p < 0.046)) and Facilitating Conditions (FC) (β= 0.138, p < 0.005).