Impact of electronic medical records on healthcare delivery in Nigeria: A Review

Electronic medical records (EMRs) have great potential to improve healthcare processes and outcomes. They are increasingly available in Nigeria, as in many developing countries. The impact of their introduction has not been well studied. We sought to synthesize the evidence from primary studies of the effect of EMRs on data quality, patient-relevant outcomes and patient satisfaction. We identified and examined five original research articles published up to May 2023 in the following medical literature databases: PUBMED/Medline, EMBASE, Web of Science, African Journals Online and Google Scholar. Four studies examined the influence of the introduction of or improvements in the EMR on data collection and documentation. The pooled percentage difference in data quality after introducing or improving the EMR was 142% (95% CI: 82% to 203%, p- value < 0.001). There was limited heterogeneity in the estimates (I 2 = 0%, p- heterogeneity = 0.93) and no evidence suggestive of publication bias. The 5 th study assessed patient satisfaction with pharmacy services following the introduction of the EMR but neither had a comparison group nor assessed patient satisfaction before EMR was introduced. We conclude that the introduction of EMR in Nigerian healthcare facilities meaningfully increased the quality of the data. Author Summary Electronic medical records, or EMRs, offer the potential to improve healthcare in many developing nations, including Nigeria. The actual impact of these digital records hasn’t gotten enough attention, despite their growing availability. Our goal in doing this review was to compile and evaluate primary study data on the effects of EMRs on patient satisfaction, patient-related outcomes, and data quality in Nigeria. After searching through medical literature databases, we found five original research publications up to May 2023 that were suitable for our study. The impact of EMR implementation or upgrades on data collection and documentation was examined in four of these studies, while patient satisfaction with pharmacy services following EMR adoption was evaluated in the fifth study. Although the included studies did not quantitatively assess the impact of EMR adoption on patient satisfaction, we were able to conclude from the studies that the introduction of EMR in Nigerian healthcare facilities meaningfully increased the quality of the data