Attitude of physiotherapists toward electronic health record in Croatia

BACKGROUND: Electronic health record can facilitate everyday clinical practice of physiotherapists. The aim of this study is to determine attitude of physiotherapists towards implementation of information technology in their work and the differences in attitude in relation to gender, age, level of education and type of health institutions. METHODS: This study is a cross-sectional survey of Croatian physiotherapists. The questionnaire ″Attitude of physiotherapists towards implementation of electronic health record included 12 items scored on a Likert-type scale from 1 to 5 and presented the award values as “Disagree”, “Neither agree nor disagree” and “Agree”. Croatian physiotherapists were (n = 267) recruited from 13 health care institutions. For analysis chi square test, t-test, one-way analysis of variance and as a post-hoc Tukey test were used. RESULTS: Explanatory factorial analysis confirmed two factors: Satisfaction in the work of physiotherapists using computers (SAT) and Necessity of computers in the work of physiotherapists (NEC). Most physiotherapists agree on (SAT) (47.9%) and on (NEC) (51.3%). Male physiotherapists were significantly more likely to disagree with statements related to SAT (p < 0.001) and NEC (p = 0.035) than female physiotherapists. Physiotherapists aged between 46 and 55 years were significantly more like to disagree on NEC in comparison to all the other groups of participants (p < 0.001). Physiotherapists with secondary school degree were significantly more like to disagree on NEC as compared with participants with bachelor’s degree (p = 0.009), as well as in comparison with physiotherapists with a university degree (p = 0.002). Most of the physiotherapists who are employed in Clinical hospitals and in the Speciality hospital agree with that statement (all p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The attitude of Croatian physiotherapists towards electronic health record differs according to the age, gender, level of education and type of health care institutions. This finding can facilitate implementation of electronic health record in physiotherapy. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Not applicable.