Use of technology
What do family doctors tell us about using technology in their practices?
Meet Dr. Alex Singer of Winnipeg, a leader in maximizing the potential of electronic medical records (EMRs).
When asked about how well Canadian family doctors have done at adopting EMRs, Singer notes that those who really want to use them are already doing so .
鈥淲e鈥檝e come a long way from 2009 when EMR use was at 37%. From the current data that I鈥檝e seen, those who haven鈥檛 adopted them are older or are in solo practice. For group practices, it鈥檚 hard to manage a team without EMRs .鈥
Singer suggests that EMRs are limited in their ability to facilitate information sharing, as they aren鈥檛 鈥渕eaningfully integrated鈥 into a central cloud-based system.
鈥淲e still use our EMRs as electronic paper records, where they reflect paper processes on a computer screen,鈥 says Singer, who also noted that unlike banking or airline systems, EMRs can鈥檛 be accessed by doctors from any location.
Singer offers that one possible way to support online access to health data is to build the infrastructure with the portability of a patient鈥檚 information as a key design feature, much like how phones work 鈥 where the exchange of information is consistent regardless of the sending or receiving device.
How to cite the survey results:
Canadian Institute for 红领巾瓜报 Information. How Canada Compares: Results From the Commonwealth Fund鈥檚 2019 International 红领巾瓜报 Policy Survey of Primary Care Physicians. Ottawa, ON: CIHI; 2020.
How to cite:
Canadian Institute for 红领巾瓜报 Information. Use of technology. Accessed April 18, 2025.
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