How will we know if it’s working? A multi-faceted approach to measuring usability of a specialty-specific electronic medical record

• Published in: Health informatics journal Vol. 18; no. 3; pp. 219 - 232
• Main Authors: Hollin, Ilene, Griffin, Margaret, Kachnowski, Stan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.09.2012
• Subjects: Ambulatory Care Facilities - statistics & numerical data; Assessments; Benchmarking - standards; Computer Graphics; Computer programs; Computer Systems; Diffusion of Innovation; Electronic health records; Electronic Health Records - instrumentation; Electronic Health Records - utilization; Electronic medical records; Ergonomics; Feedback; HIV; HIV Infections - therapy; Humans; Medical; Methodology; Methods; Operations Research; Qualitative Research; Software; Software - standards; Software Design; Surveys and Questionnaires; Task Performance and Analysis; Technology Assessment, Biomedical; United States; Usability testing; User feedback; User-Computer Interface; HIV/AIDS; electronic medical records; user feedback; usability assessment; Computer-human interaction
• ISSN: 1460-4582; 1741-2811
• DOI: 10.1177/1460458212437008

The most effective use of electronic medical records (EMRs) will result from wide-scale adoption and appropriate use of the technology—two factors that rely heavily on a system’s usability. We conducted a qualitative and quantitative usability assessment of an EMR developed specifically for treating the HIV/AIDS patient population. The purpose of this study was to inform developers on how to prioritize resources for their impending software rebuild initiative and to evaluate a dual methodology consisting of both quantitative and qualitative components. The results indicated that the methodology was valid, although there were some variations recommended for future usability assessments of EMRs. The study also underscored the need to assess usability based on user feedback and to employ multiple methods to elicit information; this research revealed many insights into the software that contradicted initial assumptions and also found that asking questions in multiple ways yielded more complete feedback.