According to an article on the AMA Med News online, increased age of a physician is not necessarily correlated with resistance to EMR use. A study at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston published in JAMA found that physicians who were at least ten years out of training and busier than their younger counterparts were actually more likely to adopt electronic medical records.
Although in general doctors who were older were less likely to be using EMR it was not because of their age, according to their research. Rather, many of these physicians were not as busy as their contemporaries and less apt to take a chance on a new technology. Their conclusion: It seems to be more about attitude than age.
Practices who are implementing EMR should take this into account. It only takes one resistant doctor to scuttle an EMR project. Don’t assume that the oldest partner is the one who is going to give you trouble. Au contraire, it might be the youngest whipper-snapper who turns out to be your saboteur.
About Peter Polack
