Practices and usage of computers in dental settings by dentists - A cross sectional study

Medical informatics is the rapidly developing scientific field that deals with resources, devices and formalized methods for optimizing the storage, retrieval and management of biomedical information for problem solving and decision making. It is the branch of science concerned with the use of computers and communication technology to acquire, store, analyze, communicate and display medical information and knowledge to facilitate understanding and improve the accuracy, timeliness and reliability of decision-making. This study was aimed to asses if the dentists in Kashmir use computers at their practices and hospitals. A self-designed questionnaire was used to conduct the survey. The questionnaire was randomly distributed to 446 dental professionals working as interns and teaching staff and dental practitioners. It was noted that 88.5% of the dentists did not use any practice management. Those who are using computers at their practices most frequently use it to store patient information (18.7%). While 22.6 % use it for scheduling appointments, 9.8% for treatment planning, 28.9% use it for diagnosis as radiographs. Many barriers for the use of technology have been put forth. Five categories of barriers to technology integration are time, expertise, access, resources and support.