Information Experience Laboratory Publications (MU)

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https://hdl.handle.net/10355/3717

Items in this collection are the scholarly output of the Information Experience Laboratory faculty, staff, and students, either alone or as co-authors, and which may or may not have been published in an alternate format. Items may contain more than one file type.

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Defining and Testing EMR Usability: Principles and Proposed Methods of EMR Usability Evaluation and Rating
(Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), 2009-06) Belden, Jeffery L.; Grayson, Rebecca; Barnes, Janey
Electronic medical record (EMR) adoption rates have been slower than expected in the United States, especially in comparison to other industry sectors and other developed countries. A key reason, aside from initial costs and lost productivity during EMR implementation, is lack of efficiency and usability of EMRs currently available. Achieving the healthcare reform goals of broad EMR adoption and “meaningful use” will require that efficiency and usability be effectively addressed at a fundamental level. We conducted a literature review of usability principles, especially those applicable to EMRs. The key principles identified were simplicity, naturalness, consistency, minimizing cognitive load, efficient interactions, forgiveness and feedback, effective use of language, effective information presentation, and preservation of context. Usability is often mistakenly equated with user satisfaction, which is an oversimplification. We describe methods of usability evaluation, offering several alternative methods for measuring efficiency and effectiveness, including patient safety. We provide samples of objective, repeatable and cost‐efficient test scenarios applicable to evaluating EMR usability as an adjunct to certification, and we discuss rating schema for scoring the results. (42 pages)

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