EMRs, Connectivity Important to Medical Students, Survey Says

June 27, 2008 - Eighty percent of students said EMR availability is important to their future practice choice, according to an annual survey of the Future Physicians of America conducted by Epocrates.

The random survey included 89 percent of whom are third or fourth year students.

Seventy percent of students are more likely to use an Internet or mobile device to help solve a clinical question, according to the survey.

Nearly 70 percent of medical students do not feel adequately prepared for managing or owning a practice in the future. However, they give schools' clinical training programs top marks, showing improvements since 2006. Likely a result of early exposure in training, the availability of an EMR system will be a significant deciding factor in where 60 percent of students choose to practice (nearly a 20 percent increase over the previous year).

Over half of students said they wanted to join or open a partnership practice, but only six percent aspired to own a solo practice.

For more information: www.epocrates.com