Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Social Networks And Physician Adoption Of Electronic Health Records: Insights From An Empirical Study, Kai Zheng, Rema Padman, David Krackhart, Michael Johnson, Herbert Diamond

Michael P. Johnson

Objective: To study how social interactions influence physician adoption of an electronic health records (EHR) system. Design: A social network survey was used to delineate the structure of social interactions among 40 residents and 15 attending physicians in an ambulatory primary care practice. Social network analysis was then applied to relate the interaction structures to individual physicians’ utilization rates of an EHR system. Measurements: The social network survey assessed three distinct types of interaction structures: professional network based on consultation on patient care-related matters; friendship network based on personal intimacy; and perceived influence network based on a person’s perception of …