Moving towards an electronic patient record: a survey to assess the needs of community family physicians.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the needs of community family physicians regarding electronic patient records (EPRs). DESIGN: A comprehensive survey was sent to 101 community family physicians in Hamilton, Ontario, who had expressed an interest in EPRs. RESULTS: 46 physicians responded (46%). 87% felt that an EPR would result in their providing better patient care. A wide variety of items were deemed to be important to be included on the EPR "front page". Desired functionality emphasized labs, medications, consultation, hospital follow-up and health maintenance. Family physicians tended to prefer templates to other data entry methods such as typing and dictating. Respondents were more willing to view information from the hospital than to let the hospital view information from their own offices. CONCLUSION: This survey provided useful information on the perceived EPR needs of community-based family physicians. It will be repeated post-computerization.