EHR User Experience Consulting

What makes an EHR application successful? Users.

Successful EHR applications should satisfy functional requirements and feature user interfaces that are designed with the user experience in mind. Recent research on the adoption of EHRs has found that among the top barriers to adoption, usability concerns equal those of security, privacy, and systems integration.

User Centric's EHR Consulting from User Centric on Vimeo.

Designing or redesigning an EHR user interface?

We have extensive experience providing user research and user-centered design services to make your EHR application and its user interface usable, functionally relevant, efficient, intuitive, and accessible.

Our services include:

• User research: Obtain insight from target users through on-site observation at healthcare facilities, contextual inquiry, user interviews, and/or focus groups.
• Usability evaluations: Evaluate the existing EHR system and provide recommendations based on user interface design principles and best practices.
• Usability testing: Conduct in-person, one-on-one test sessions with target users, which could include physicians, nurses, and administrative staff.
• Information architecture: Establish how the content will be organized to optimize the efficacy of the user interface.
• UI design: Create wireframe mockups with a focus on supporting key user requirements through best practices in user interaction, application organization, navigation, and page layout.
• Graphic design: Complement your product's interface and your organization's branding, with fully polished, production-quality visual design.

Selecting an EHR system?

We can provide a proven, systematic approach to selecting the right EHR system for your organization. Our services include:

• Benchmarking: Set thresholds and minimum criteria the EHR system must achieve. These can be measures of effectiveness, efficiency, or user satisfaction.
• Usability estimation: Narrow the list of available EHR systems -- without the time and cost of formal usability testing -- to those that have the most promise for success. Comparative walkthroughs, usability evaluations, and
• User research: Assess your candidate EHR system's user interface against established benchmarks for success. Methods include usability tests, field observations, and usability questionnaires.

Involve users early and often.

Incorporating user research and usability testing early in the process maximizes the benefit of insights and reduces the need to rework the UI. However, some services, like usability evaluations, can be performed any time in the product lifecycle.

Blog: Designing EHRs Starts in the Field

HIT Usability Webinars

User Centric presented a Health IT Usability Webinar Series in September 2009. This series discussed the essentials of usability in the context of Health IT, the fundamentals of measuring user experience, and how to incorporate usability into Health IT development.  All three Webinars can be viewed on demand by visiting http://www.usercentric.com/hit-usability/video.  For more information on these webinars or if you'd like to have a live presentation for your club or organization on these topics, please contact Pamela Stoffregen-Gay (pstoffregen@usercentric.com).

Related White Paper - How to Select an Electronic Health Record System that Healthcare Professionals Can Use -  Read Publication