Variations in the Use of Electronic Medical Records: Role of Sociocultural Aspects

Research on health practices, particularly around patient records in CSCW and HCI largely has underlying assumptions like individualism, emotional minimalism, recording clinical evidence, etc. We break away from this over simplification, that forgoes cultural categories like beliefs and assumptions about illness, technology and, gender roles, etc. This paper provides overview of ongoing dissertation research seeking to examine socio cultural aspects evoked within obstetrics and gynaecology (OB/GYN) outpatient consultation and how this leads to variations in EMR use. We have identified case study as suitable research strategy and principles of grounded approach will be applied while analysing data. We hope to bring more nuanced understanding of cultural mechanisms in creating variations in use of health IT.