Usefulness of the functionalities of an electronic medical record on a Latin American medical web portal.

The medical record is a key component in the modern health systems, a fundamental basis of higher functionalities that guaranties quality care and the possibility of improved clinical management. The dissemination of information systems for the electronic medical record (EMR) has a growing acceptance and use in developed countries. This type of recognition however has not been widespread in Latin America. Realizing this we conducted a web survey to users of a Latin American medical portal to assess their perception of the EMRs usefulness. Among the results we found that over 90% of respondents were in favor of its use, with values that exceed 80% in the analysis of the utilities by categories. More in-depth studies are needed to determine the reasons for the lack of dissemination and implementation of EMR in our region.