How to Select an Electronic Health Record System that Healthcare Professionals Can Use

February 5, 2009
by Robert M. Schumacher, Ph.D., Managing Director, User Centric, Inc.
Jayson M. Webb, Ph.D., Executive Director User Experience Research, User Centric, Inc.
Korey R. Johnson, M.S., User Experience Specialist, User Centric, Inc. Back to 2009 Publications Index

Abstract 

In recent years, Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have been promoted by industry and government as a means of improving patient care and controlling costs. However, actual adoption of EHRs has been lower than expected due to general resistance related to implementation costs, security, privacy, and systems integration. Recent studies have shown, however, that many of these adoption barriers pale in comparison to basic usability and productivity concerns. Simply put, healthcare professionals have found many EHRs too difficult to use.

Why has EHR usability remained an issue even as more organizations deploy these systems? To explore this topic, User Centric inspected dozens of publicly available Requests for Proposal and procurement guidelines for EHRs to learn how usability was addressed. This inspection revealed that EHR usability was overlooked or only marginally mentioned in nearly all of the documents. Only three documents discussed usability or user experience in any substantive way. Thus, there was a gap between the need for improved usability in EHRs and a lack of usability criteria in the EHR procurement cycle.

To bridge this gap, User Centric proposes an approach for specifying usability requirements and assessing EHR systems relative to these requirements. The User Centric white paper, "How to Select an Electronic Health Record System the Healthcare Professionals Can Use," identifies a five-step process for specifying and measuring the usability of EHR systems. These steps are intended to help guide selection of an EHR that meets the criteria for high levels of effectiveness, efficiency, and subjective satisfaction among healthcare providers. User Centric believes that EHR systems selected in this manner are more likely to be adopted, meet the needs of their users, and reduce the chance of usability-related abandonment.

Downloading the White Paper 

Click on the PDF link on the upper right hand side of the page to download the full version of the white paper. Registration required prior to white paper download.

Learn More

Visit our EHR User Experience Consulting section to learn how User Centric can help make your EHR implementation successful.

Robert Schumacher is a Managing Director at User Centric, Inc.

Bob’s mission is to help create the best user experience firm in the world, a firm that he would have hired when he was on the client side of the business. Before joining User Centric, Bob spent many years in the telecom industry in human factors, new product development and project management, ending up as Vice President of Universal Access. Besides running the company with Gavin, Bob’s research interests include user performance in high-volume transaction environments such as call centers, forms, and POS systems. He has strived to bring the subjects of global user experience and global alliances to the forefront of professional discourse; he was one of the driving forces behind the formation of the User Experience Alliance (UXA). Bob speaks frequently on user experience at national and international events, holds several patents, and has written dozens of professional and academic papers. Currently, he is working on a book on global user research.

Interesting Facts: Bob enjoys bicycling, “extreme cheese” and traveling—he has visited all 50 states and 30 countries.

Qualifications: PhD in Cognitive and Experimental Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Jayson Webb is a Director at User Centric, Inc.

Jayson’s main focus is on utilizing a combination of qualitative and quantitative data to improve website designs. He also specializes in data analysis, including inferential statistics (ANOVA, regression) and exploratory analyses (cluster analysis, pca, etc). Before joining the User Centric team, Jayson was the cofounder/managing director of Quintus Design and confounder/VP of Services of Lextant, both user experience companies. His role with User Centric is to help launch and support our remote testing product - LEOtrace. Jayson has presented at conferences including the eMetrics Summit and ITEC conference.

Interesting Facts: Jayson spends his spare time playing online chess, bowling with his twin 11-year old daughters, and coaching girl’s softball.

Qualifications: PhD in Experimental Psychology with minors in Quantitative Methods and Human Factors.

About User Centric, Inc.

User Centric is a global consulting firm that focuses on improving user experience. We apply our expertise to projects involving handhelds, web sites, software, medical devices, print, packaging, and telephony services. Experience, quality, value, global reach and outstanding client services set us apart. Our services include user research, user interface design consulting, information architecture, usability testing, user interface evaluations, eye tracking, and online surveys. Learn more about us at www.UserCentric.com.