Summary

Background and objective: Anaesthesia information management systems, though still not used widely, will inevitably replace handwritten records and may eventually serve as a core for the development of computerized decision support. We investigated staff expectations and the accuracy of data entry in a recently implemented commercially available anaesthesia information management system. Methods: A structured questionnaire was administered to the staff before and 1 week and 3 months after implementation in order to assess their opinion. The quality of manual data entry, and of automatic data record was evaluated by looking for missing data and the prevalence of artefacts. Results: Despite initial fears the users quickly accepted the system. Both automatic and manual data entry were found to be accurate and reliable while the prevalence of artefacts was relatively low. Conclusions: A commercially available anaesthesia information management system can be easily implemented and used instead of paper charts.

Summary

Background and objective: This paper describes the user acceptance of an anaesthesia information management system at the University Hospital in Giessen, Germany, after 5 yr of routine use.

Methods: A questionnaire with 75 items was distributed to all anaesthesiologists and anaesthetic nurses of the Department of Anaesthesiology. The questions were answered anonymously on a five-point Likert scale.

Results: The return rate was 60% (44 physicians and 24 nurses). The results indicated that the system generally met user expectations. The respondents thought that electronic record keeping improved the quality of their work, and they did not want to switch back to paper records. Problems arose with hardware placement and software features, e.g. coding tools for diagnoses and type of surgery. The perceived quality of training strongly influenced user acceptance.

Conclusions: Despite the deficits revealed by the survey, the respondents did not want to switch back to manual record keeping. A structured user survey is a useful tool for the development, adaptation and implementation of an anaesthesia information management system. A training strategy that takes the needs of the users into account is recommended.