Abstract

E-health system in India as well as in other countries is confronted with growing demand for medical treatment and services. The medical records must suitably have all of the medical history of the patients. Medical doctors should have proper records, since this can help doctors as well as patients in various situations. The present investigation attempts to unearth the usage and effects of Information and Communication Technology among medical doctors in the field of medicine to enhance their profession in Tamil Nadu, India. In this endeavor, the primary task of the researchers is to apply the appropriate technique to identify individuals, who will constitute the sample for the present study and also develop a reliable instrument to measure the perception of the respondents and the uses and effects of Information and Communication Technology in the field of medicine. The researcher is bestowed with the onerous task of identifying the right samples that are medical doctors and the right place where they work (government, private and own clinic) to collect reasonably representative data. This deals with the procedure adopted for developing the psychometric instrument (questionnaire), which has been used to elicit information on the uses and effects of information and communication technology by the medical doctors in the field of medicine. The results of the study reveal the major patterns of the usage of medical database management system. However, the stage also points out the grey areas, especially in the government sector, the need for proper implementation, diffusion and adoption of ICT.