[Acceptance and status of digitalization in clinics and practices : Current assessment in German urology].

Background: Digitalization of patient documentation and introduction of the electronic patient record (ePA) pose challenges to everyday clinical practice.

Objectives: We investigated the acceptance and status of the digitalization of patient data and the introduction of the ePA among German urologists.

Materials And Methods: A questionnaire with 30 questions about the acceptance and status of digitalization of patient documentation and ePA was sent out via the newsletter of the German Society of Urology.

Results: A total of 80 urologists participated in the survey (response rate 2%). Digital platforms such as Urotube or Researchgate are used by 63% of participants. The complete implementation of digital patient documentation was reported by 72% of respondents working in medical practice and by 54% of those working in the hospital (p = 0.042). While 76% see the digitalization process as reasonable, 34% expressed partial or strong concerns about the complete digitalization of patient documentation. Only 14% of the participants offer video consultations. Advantages for ePA include better networking of the healthcare system (73%), improved diagnosis, indication (41%) and treatment quality (48%), and avoidance of medication errors (70%).

Conclusion: German urologists are open to the digitalization process and ePA. Especially younger urologists are using digital media. The advantages of digitalization are, in particular, an improvement in treatment processes. For a smooth introduction, a cross-departmental establishment and, if necessary, an adaptation of the treatment processes are necessary.