Receptivity toward Uses of a New Computer Application in Medicine

• Published in: Proceedings - Symposium on Computer Application in Medical Care pp. 384 - 391
• Main Authors: Dlugacz, Yosef D., Siegel, Carole, Fischer, Susan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 02.11.1982
• Subjects: Book I: Information Systems in Medical Care
• ISSN: 0195-4210

This paper reports on correlates of physicians' receptivity toward the introduction of a computerized application which impacts their daily work. Receptive physicians are discriminated from non-receptive on the basis of their attitudes toward the computerized systems and their attitudes toward working conditions. The physicians in this study are employed in state psychiatric and mental retardation facilities in which computerized drug ordering, along with an automated review of their prescribing practices, was introduced. Receptivity to these systems of physicians who have begun to use them was examined and related to their opinions on the benefits and drawbacks of the systems and to attitudes toward their clinical role and working conditions. The results show that the sample of physicians is equally divided in terms of their receptivity. Physicians who saw relative advantages in the systems tended to be receptive, while those who were threatened by the computer applications tended to be non-receptive. Attitudes of physicians towards their working conditions, also statistically significant, correlated with receptivity. The primary variable distinguishing receptive from non-receptive physicians was their view of the systems' capabilities to improve patient care with those who agreed that the systems could improve care being more receptive.