100 Chapter 6 As stated, it is essential to understand what medical specialists perceive to be key aspects that either support or hinder the use of EMRs to positively impact diagnosis and treatment, now and in the future. These findings may help decide howmedical processes can be improved with modern IT. Important in this approach is that the possibilities of modern IT, especially for advanced decision support, are taken as a starting point 22. Limitations of the study Our study has several limitations. We have only interviewed specialists from hospitals that lacked nursing documentation in 2012-2014. These hospitals found themselves in the lowest stage of EMR use according to the EMRAMmodel, but also had great potential to improve effectively and were able to learn fromother hospitals. However, this qualitative study might still have been too early in the hospital’s implementation of EMRs to identify aspects that are relevant for mature use of EMRs. The age of the interviewedmedical specialists varies between 42 and 62 years. These are medical specialists with a great deal of experience in the field. A question is whether the perspectives of younger medical specialists correspond with the perspectives of their older colleagues. Follow-up research might answer this question. CONCLUSIONS The elevenmedical specialists shared positive experiences of EMR use, when comparing it to the formerly used paper records. The fact that the health professionals involved can access the patient data at any time they need it, is considered important. However, in practice, potential quality improvement lags behind as long as decision support cannot be applied due to the lack of a fully coded patient record. Availability of data and materials The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available, after anonymisation, from the corresponding author on reasonable request. DECLARATIONS Consent for publication All interviewees participated on a voluntary basis and were granted confidentiality. All participants have agreed with the final report of their interviews. All participating
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