Why do not Health Personnel use the Electronic Patient Record?

The medical patient record is a multi-functional document of vital importance in today’s hospitals. The record serves as a system for both planning and documentation for the health personnel, and it organises and standardizes patient-centred work. Originally paper-based, the patient record are being transformed into electronic versions, and electronic patient records (EPR) are now implemented throughout Norwegian hospitals. The developers of the technology promise a long list of advantages you may gain by using the EPR rather than the paper record. However, despite all these advantages, research so far show that health personnel in general are either not using the EPR or they are not utilizing its potential. Drawing on ethnographic data from two departments in a hospital, we explore health personnel’s attitudes to and practices with the EPR. Furthermore, we point at possible reasons for the lack of use of the EPR. Following this we suggest some solutions to increase the use of EPRs in hospitals and how to utilize the potential inherent in the EPR-systems.