Adoption of electronic medical records as a technology innovation for ambulatory care at the Medical University of South Carolina.

The study described in this article measured and compared the attitudes of groups of Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) ambulatory care staff and physicians toward adopting an electronic medical record (EMR) system, using the Perceived Characteristics of Innovating (PCI) scales developed by Moore and Benbasat (1991). The PCI scale scores were compared by professional group and by clinic location. The overall findings of this study were that potential users of the ambulatory care EMR at MUSC had generally positive or neutral attitudes toward the system. There were a number of significant differences noted among the professional groups, particularly between the physician groups and other groups. The physician groups had less positive feelings than the other groups did. There were few significant differences noted for comparisons by clinic location.