Table 1.
Facilitators of EMR use at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital Emergency Centre.
| Themes | Quotes |
|---|---|
| Existing facilitators | |
| Logistics | “There are readily available items to use, like palm top, laptop, printer and storage devices. Moreover, there is a scanner, which also helps in keeping records. Currently, the department has new version of Computers” (interviewee 15) |
| Capacity building and trainings | “We were given an orientation on how to carry out everything. The basic IT knowledge I had from school coupled with what I had gained from colleagues improved my utility of the system. With the skills acquired in IT it made it quite easy to use the system. The system was good” (interviewee 6) |
| Human resource | “Management ensured that the system was working and there is involvement of department management. The supervision from the leaders has really helped us to get along successfully” (interviewee 1) |
| Motivation | “It is self-motivating because it is so disheartening to see the patient that you care for lose all his medical records. Therefore the EC’s EMR will promote emergency medicine care. Staff present realise that there were some benefits. Example, an elderly man who is a known diabetic and hypertensive came in and his fat folder was lost but we were able to print out for him the entire folder from the scanned files. This got the records office much involved” (interviewee 21) |
| “Computers will keep information about patients and make it easier for relatives to locate their patients” (interviewee 7) | |
| Perceived future facilitators | |
| Logistics | “We will require a system that works very fast. In the future we will need a waiting area for incoming patients. The triage area is a busy place, we only take few patients at a time. A bigger office space could be provided in the future to help run the EMR system. This place is small. Sometimes some of us can’t even get places to sit to work” (interviewee 3) |
| “Back up could be provided to help support the EMR system. If there is automatic data backup, it is good. In the future they should have a standard uninterrupted power supply that can last long that will facilitate saving of data during power fluctuation” (interviewee 14) | |
| Training | “Remedial or continuous training sessions so people are reminded of all data fields we want to capture, repeat training episodes” (interviewee 24) |
| Human resource | “Assign people to do entry because if you are attending to patient and at the same time you are doing entry some of the information will slip off. Those who do the entries if they backup the system it will help” (interviewee 1) |
| Motivation | “I think some form of motivation, whatever the form will help. Be it word of mouth, any other thing” (interviewee 10) |
| “We want we should be able to see what you were seen in Wa [500 km from Kumasi] for. The motivation is to finish developing Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital’s one and then spread it out to all hospitals. Data is secured and you can access in other hospitals. That is ‘one folder per Ghanaian’. This will all prevent adverse reaction to Medication” (interviewee 23) | |