Attitudes of Jewish and Bedouin responders toward family physicians' use of electronic medical records during the medical encounter

Objective: Culture is known to impact expectations from medical treatments. The effects of cultural differences on attitudes toward Electronic Medical Records (EMR) have not been investigated. We compared the attitudes of Jewish and Bedouin responders toward EMR's use by family physicians during the medical encounter, and examined the contribution of background variables to these attitudes. Methods: 86 Jewish and 89 Bedouin visitors of patients in a regional Israeli University Medical Center responded to a self-reporting questionnaire with Hebrew and Arabic versions. Results: T-tests and a linear regression analysis found that culture did not predict attitudes. Respondents' self-reported health status, Internet and e-mail use, and estimates of their physician's typing speed explained a total of 18.6% of the variance in attitudes (p< 0.001). Conclusion: Bedouins respondents' attitudes toward EMR use were better than expected and similar to those of their Jewish counterparts. The most significant factor influencing respondents' attitudes was the physician's typing speed. Practice implications: (1) Further studies should consider the possible impact of cultural differences between the family physician and the healthcare client on attitudes. (2) Interventions to improve physicians' skill in operating EMRs and typing will potentially have a positive impact on patients' satisfaction with physicians' EMR use.