Usability Assessment of Hospital Information System Integrated Electronic Medical Record

• Main Authors: Sinju D’Costa, Rajesh Kumar Sinha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Light House Polyclinic Mangalore 2018-10-01
• Series: Online Journal of Health & Allied Sciences
• Subjects: Hospital Information System; Electronic Medical Record; Health Care Organization; Usability Assessment; End-user satisfaction
• Online Access: https://www.ojhas.org/issue67/2018-3-5.html

Background: Usability assessment is necessary to know how effective is the implemented Hospital Information System (HIS) integrated Electronic Medical Record (EMR). The assessment explores the factors that influence the satisfaction level of the end-user. Objective: To understand the end user attitude towards HIS integrated EMR, to assess the satisfaction level of the end-user and to analyze the challenges and limitations. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out among nursing, billing, front office, medical records department and paramedical staff of a super specialty hospital in Southern India. A structured and validated questionnaire was used for the data collection. Results: The study revealed that 61.40% of staff had a moderate level of satisfaction with the present HIS integrated EMR. Post Hoc test revealed a significant difference in the attitudes of staffs towards HIS integrated EMR. The major technical challenges reported by the end users were slow network, poor integrity, difficulty in accessing data, lack of guidelines for using HIS and non-friendly user interface. The lack of training, lack of healthcare professional’s support, lack of experience in using the system and scare to use the HIS integrated EMR were the human challenges expressed by the end-users. The information availability, software, and communication system were the limitations that restricted the end-users to utilize the system fully. Conclusion: The study indicated that the better acceptability of HIS integrated EMR is only possible through the involvement of end-users in the mainstream of implementation and regular evaluation of end-user satisfaction. This approach will provide the scope for improving the system to meet the end-user requirements and lead to better sustainability.