Evaluation of the Uses of Medical Records within a Health Assistance Network

This article proposes a method to evaluate the uses of medical records by healthcare professionals within a health assistance network. We have used a mixed methodology with two main axes: a qualitative sociological analysis, based on face-to-face interviews, and a statistical study of computer log files. 19 interviews of healthcare professionals and 16,417 logs files, concerning 111 doctors and 823 patients, over a period of 43 months have been analyzed. The main results are that there is a real use of Shared Patient Records, even if the intensity of use is very heterogeneous, with a small group deeply involved in use of the system. Moreover, the use of Shared Patient Records has increased steadily since the system was launched, both in the number of healthcare professionals consulting them and the number of patients treated. The sharing of data is motivated by a specific goal: to coordinate the care of addictive behaviors and the kind of data shared is determined by this goal. Not all information is shared, but only data that can help other professionals treat addicted patients