Utilization of electronic medical record system and associated factors among health professionals in public health facilities of Harari Region, Eastern Ethiopia

Background: Electronic medical record is computer-based patient recording system at the facility level and it’s a digital version of a paper chart in a clinical office. Moreover, an electronic record of health-related information, on an individual that can be created, gathered, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staffs within one health care organization. Objective - To assess the level of utilization and determinants of electronic medical record use among health professionals working in public health facilities in Harari Regional State, Eastern Ethiopia Methods A facility- based cross-sectional study was conducted with 498 randomly selected health professionals at public health facilities of Harari Region. Pre-tested structured questionnaire that has been designed to be filled by the respondent which is used. Data collection facilitator participated in data collection. Data were entered into Epi Data Version 3.1 and exported to STATA version 14.2 for data processing and analysis. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the study variables. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify the association b/n, between the outcome, and independent variables. A p-value < 0.05 at a 95% confidence level were considered as statistically significant. Results Of the total 551 approaching health professionals, 498(90.3%) were returned the questionnaire. Out of this, 211(42.3%, 95% CI: 38, 46) were using the electronic medical recording system. Females (AOR = 0.40, 95% CI: .251-.66), Health professionals with good Knowledge and Attitude and those having basic computer course had an association and a statistically significant result with utilization of EMR system ((AOR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.07, 2.72), (AOR = 2.48, 95% CI: 1.53- 4.00), (AOR = 4.45, 95% CI: 2.17–9.10)) respectively. Conclusion and Recommendations: as this study shows, the utilization of electro medical record system was low. Health professionals with basic computer courses, having good knowledge and a good attitude, were found to use an electronic medical record system. Therefore, improving the knowledge and awareness of health professionals is important for scaling up the electronic medical record system used in facilities.