Abstract:
Computers play an increasingly prominent role in health information management in health care delivery. The tertiary care hospital under this study has implemented hospital information management system as an Electronic Health Information System (EHIS). The objectives are to describe the patients’ perception on use of computers in consultation room and to describe the extent of patient satisfaction towards doctor-patient relationship after using computers in consultation. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study which was carried out among the out-patients over 18 years old, attending to the OPD using consecutive sampling. An interviewer-administrated questionnaire was used to collect data at the consultation room. The mean (± SD) age of the participants (n=362) was 41±13.5 years. Majority were married (n=309, 85%). Half of them were educated up to ordinary level (n=166, 45.9%). Almost all the participants (98%) reported that doctor had given adequate attention to them and had given enough time to discuss their problems with the doctor. Almost all (98%) were on the opinion that entering their clinical details into the computer would benefit them in the subsequent visits in the future. Majority of the respondents (97%) agreed that computer didn’t negatively affect their relationship with the doctor and 65% were on the opinion that the new system would improve doctor-patient relationship. Use of computers in healthcare services would be beneficial and it would not negatively affect doctor-patient relationship.
