Report: Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Usage in Canadian Healthcare

This report critiques the research on Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) in Canada, focusing on a study by eHealth Ontario. The report highlights the benefits of EMRs, such as improved patient safety, timely information sharing, and better care coordination, as reported by eHealth Ontario. It also acknowledges the negative aspects, including a decrease in positive participant perceptions regarding EMRs and patient care deliverance from 2012 to 2015 and the reliance on participant interviews which introduces the risk of bias. The report concludes that while EMRs show promise for improving healthcare in Canada, future research needs to address information gaps and improve evidence-based practice. The report also mentions the importance of the connectivity strategy which supports the Action Plan for Health Care and defines the future of Ontario’s EHR as a “single, safe, standardized and proveincially interlarded record for every health care client in the province, with comprehensive, connected information, connected systems, and streamlined access”.

Running head: ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD USAGE IN CANADA
ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORD USAGE IN CANADA
Name of the Student:
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Introduction
Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) have been evidenced to instill a number of
healthcare organizational benefits, as postulated in the ‘EMR Benefits Realization Update’,
namely: enhanced patient healthcare access, healthcare connectivity, health information
availability and personal health data security (eHealth Ontario, 2015). The following paper will
briefly critique the aforementioned research report, published by eHealth Ontario (2015).
Discussion
Positive
The comprehensiveness in findings demonstrated by the report, is what makes this
research advantageous since it provides insights into improved practice translation. For example,
the report findings demonstrated positive participant perceptions across 2012 (56%) to 2015
(59%) regarding the positive association between EMR usage and improvements in patient
safety, timely information sharing and organization response to patient needs. Such findings
serve as key motivational factors for both healthcare staff as well patients to implement and
engage in EMR usage (eHealth Ontario, 2015). Additionally, the report demonstrated positive
perceptions regarding EMRs and improve care team coordination, which can further encourage
EMR usage and pave the way for improved interdisciplinary functioning and service
coordination across local, state and federal level organizations (Chang & Gupta, 2015).
Negative
Despite the range of beneficial findings, a closer examination raises several doubts on
research comprehensiveness. For example, for example, the findings denoted a 12% decrease in
participant perceptions from 2012 to 2015 regarding the positive association between EMR

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usages and improved patient care deliverance (eHealth Ontario, 2015). There was however, no
further exploration regarding the reasons underlying this drop, thus indicative of
incomprehensive information. Further, despite recruiting diverse participants, the data largely
relied on participant interviews which increases the risk of bias and social desirability and thus,
compromised methodological quality (Huebschmann, Leavitt & Glasgow, 2019).
Conclusion
While the comprehensive data findings paves the way for increased health informatics
usage and healthcare service improvement in Canada, the observed information gaps also
indicate the need for the future improvements in evidence-based research and healthcare
technology practice.

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References
Chang, F., & Gupta, N. (2015). Progress in electronic medical record adoption in
Canada. Canadian Family Physician, 61(12), 1076-1084.
eHealth Ontario. (2015). EMR Benefits Realization Study Update Final Report. Retrieved 12
December 2019, from
https://www.ehealthontario.on.ca/images/uploads/pages/documents/EMR_Benefits_Reali
zation_Study_Update_English.pdf.
Huebschmann, A. G., Leavitt, I. M., & Glasgow, R. E. (2019). Making health research matter: a
call to increase attention to external validity. Annual review of public health, 40, 45-63.