Proportion of physicians in primary care practices who use computers for various actions
| COMPUTER USE* | PHYSICIANS, % | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BC | AB | SK | MB | ON | QC | NB AND PE | NS | NL | CANADA | |
| Making appointments | 93.2 | 90.4 | 85.0 | 90.2 | 95.7 | 72.6 | 64.8 | 83.1 | 51.2 | 82.5 |
| Issuing invoices | 81.4 | 83.5 | 85.0 | 68.3 | 78.3 | 20.0 | 40.7 | 67.8 | 46.3 | 58.0 |
| Issuing drug prescriptions | 84.7 | 83.5 | 65.0 | 90.2 | 87.5 | 50.7 | 29.6 | 69.5 | 29.3 | 67.9 |
| Sending prescriptions to the pharmacy† | 39.0 | 38.3 | 60.0 | 58.5 | 57.6 | 13.5 | 13.0 | 45.8 | 4.9 | 34.8 |
| Sending referral letters to medical specialists | 81.4 | 78.3 | 60.0 | 85.4 | 83.7 | 27.4 | 44.4 | 72.9 | 48.8 | 61.5 |
| Keeping records of consultations | 84.7 | 84.3 | 65.0 | 85.4 | 90.2 | 40.0 | 31.5 | 71.2 | 46.3 | 66.6 |
| Storing diagnostic test results | 83.1 | 86.1 | 65.0 | 90.2 | 89.1 | 48.8 | 40.7 | 74.6 | 46.3 | 70.1 |
| Searching medical information on the Internet | 94.9 | 93.9 | 95.0 | 95.1 | 92.9 | 83.3 | 92.6 | 83.1 | 92.7 | 90.0 |
| Maintaining and using electronic health records | 78.0 | 84.3 | 70.0 | 87.8 | 87.5 | 39.1 | 33.3 | 67.8 | 53.7 | 65.7 |
| I do not use a computer | 0.0 | 1.7 | 0.0 | 2.4 | 0.5 | 5.1 | 1.9 | 6.8 | 0.0 | 2.5 |
AB—Alberta, BC—British Columbia, MB—Manitoba, NB—New Brunswick, NL—Newfoundland and Labrador, NS—Nova Scotia, ON—Ontario, PE—Prince Edward Island, QC—Quebec, SK—Saskatchewan.
↵* Data collected from the Family Physician Survey (Q47) from the Quality and Cost of Primary Care study.
↵† This is considered to be electronic prescribing, as discussed by Clark.25