Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Nov;22(6):1179-82.
doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocv050. Epub 2015 Jun 6.

Electronic health record usability: analysis of the user-centered design processes of eleven electronic health record vendors

Raj M Ratwani  1 , Rollin J Fairbanks  2 , A Zachary Hettinger  3 , Natalie C Benda  4
Affiliations

Electronic health record usability: analysis of the user-centered design processes of eleven electronic health record vendors

Raj M Ratwani et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2015 Nov.

Abstract

The usability of electronic health records (EHRs) continues to be a point of dissatisfaction for providers, despite certification requirements from the Office of the National Coordinator that require EHR vendors to employ a user-centered design (UCD) process. To better understand factors that contribute to poor usability, a research team visited 11 different EHR vendors in order to analyze their UCD processes and discover the specific challenges that vendors faced as they sought to integrate UCD with their EHR development. Our analysis demonstrates a diverse range of vendors' UCD practices that fall into 3 categories: well-developed UCD, basic UCD, and misconceptions of UCD. Specific challenges to practicing UCD include conducting contextually rich studies of clinical workflow, recruiting participants for usability studies, and having support from leadership within the vendor organization. The results of the study provide novel insights for how to improve usability practices of EHR vendors.

Keywords: electronic health records; health information technology; human factors; usability.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Likourezos A, Chalfin DB, Murphy DG, Sommer B, Darcy K, Davidson SJ . Physician and nurse satisfaction with an electronic medical record system . J Emerg Med. 2004. ; 27 ( 4 ): 419 – 424 . doi:10.1016/j.jemermed.2004.03.019 . - PubMed
    1. McGinn CA, Grenier S, Duplantie J, et al. . Comparison of user groups’ perspectives of barriers and facilitators to implementing electronic health records: a systematic review . BMC Med. 2011. ; 9 ( 1 ): 46 . doi:10.1186/1741-7015-9-46 . - PMC - PubMed
    1. Friedberg M, Chen P, Van Busum K, et al. . Factors Affecting Physician Professional Satisfaction and their Implications for Patient Care, Health Systems, and Health Policy . Santa Monica, CA: : Rand Corporation ; 2013. . - PMC - PubMed
    1. Survey of clinicians: user satisfaction with electronic health records has decreased since 2010. . American College of Physicians Website . http://www.acponline.org/newsroom/ehrs_survey.htm?hp . 2015. Accessed March 10, 2013 .
    1. Middleton B, Bloomrosen M, Dente MA, et al. . Enhancing patient safety and quality of care by improving the usability of electronic health record systems: recommendations from AMIA . J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2013. ; 20 ( e1 ): e2 – e8 . - PMC - PubMed

Publication types