The Impact of Electronic Health Care Record on Physicians’ Professional Authority

Introduction: The purpose of the Electronic Healthcare Record is to improve the service quality by reducing medical errors, prevention, monitoring, diagnosis, prioritization, treatment, follow-up, provision of effective ways to communicate and share information between health care providers, and better health information. While benefiting EHCR, physicians just like to practice medicine. These changes have created a new level of complexity that makes physicians feel frustrated and dissatisfied with medical practice. Therefore, one of the factors that affect EHCR is the physician’s authority, which affects the acceptance or nonacceptance of EHCR. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of using electronic health records on physicians’ authority. Methods: Qualitative data collection was performed by a semi-structured interview with eight physicians, three specialists and four psychologists. The data collected show the users’ perceptions of the impact of EHCR on the physicians’ careers. All participants experienced the use of EHR in the health care system. Results: A total of three dimensions were identified to assess the impact of the perceived threat of professional independence on the physician’s acceptance of EHCR, increased managers’ control, loss of professional privacy and professional authority, data trust, and security. When technology negatively affects the job roles, professional status, and independence, resistance is more likely to occur. Conclusion: The results of the study show that the design and implementation of EHCR should be in a way that does not threaten the autonomy of physicians. If the electronic health record system is designed and implemented without regard to the issue of autonomy, it will be nothing but a “cookbook” for doctors, and they will not welcome it.