EMR, E-prescribing Software Surpass Colleagues as Physicians' Top Information Source

Electronic medical records (EMRs) and e-prescribing software have surpassed discussions with colleagues as the top source of information for physicians, according to the results of a recent health information technology (HIT) survey by a media monitoring group.

For their latest biannual Sources & Interactions Study, members of the Kantar Media Healthcare Research team surveyed more than 3,000 physicians on their use of various information sources — including conventional media like print prescription pads, and Web-based sources like drug reference mobile apps — to stay up-to-date on medical developments throughout the year.

The researchers discovered physicians are “exposed to online medical records as a source of information more than 200 times per year, trumping colleagues” who were the top information source in 2012, yet remained stable in 2013 with approximately 172 mean annual exposures. In addition, the study authors estimated EMR and e-prescribing software “each has about a 75% reach among all doctors,” and both sources ranked in the top 5 list of media types by importance to physicians.

While physicians’ interaction with drug reference mobile apps increased by roughly 8 exposures from last year’s survey, their contact with prescription pads and paper increased by nearly 20 average exposures. Nevertheless, print prescriptions fell below mobile apps when both sources were ranked by their importance to doctors.