Electronic Medical Records Usage among Health Information Management Practitioners: A Scoping Review
Keywords:
Electronic medical records, electronic health records, health information management, health records officers, EMR adoption, health informaticsAbstract
The study presents the findings of a scoping review aimed at charting the range and scope of EMR adoption and use among HIM professionals in various contexts, identifying the drivers of this use, and highlighting how the roles and responsibilities of HIM professionals are evolving. The review is based on the 2005 framework by Arksey and O'Malley and reported following the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR), with data drawn from peer-reviewed empirical literature and from other review papers on adoption, competencies, and organisation roles relevant to the HIM workforce. Our results suggest that there are interconnected factors influencing EMR adoption and HIM professionals, including technology literacy, readiness of infrastructure, institutional support, availability of training, perception of utility and the regulatory climate. Our review reveals HIM professionals shifting away from their role as records managers toward one involving data management, quality assurance, informatics, although such shifts are more advanced in high-income settings compared to low-and middle-income settings. The paper concludes with a series of recommendations for health information management education, certification bodies and health system policy.
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