Abstract
Objective The purpose of this study was to further explore the effect of EHRs on emergency
department (ED) attending and resident physicians' perceived workload, satisfaction,
and productivity through the completion of six EHR patient scenarios combined with
workload, productivity, and satisfaction surveys.
Methods To examine EHR usability, we used a live observational design combined with post
observation surveys conducted over 3 days, observing emergency physicians' interactions
with the EHR during a 1-hour period. Physicians were asked to complete six patient
scenarios in the EHR, and then participants filled two surveys to assess the perceived
workload and satisfaction with the EHR interface.
Results Fourteen physicians participated, equally distributed by gender (50% females) and
experience (43% residents, 57% attendings). Frustration levels associated to the EHR
were significantly higher for attending physicians compared with residents. Among
the factors causing high EHR frustrations are: (1) remembering menu and button names
and commands use; (2) performing tasks that are not straightforward; (3) system speed;
and (4) system reliability. In comparisons between attending and resident physicians,
time to complete half of the cases as well as the overall reaction to the EHR were
statistically different.
Conclusion ED physicians already have the highest levels of burnout and fourth lowest level
of satisfaction among physicians and, hence, particular attention is needed to study
the impact of EHR on ED physicians. This study investigated key EHR usability barriers
in the ED particularly, the assess frustration levels among physicians based on experience,
and identifying factors impacting those levels of frustrations. In our findings, we
highlight the most favorable and most frustrating EHR functionalities between both
groups of physicians.
Keywords
electronic health records and systems - interfaces and usability - physician - emergency
and disaster care - satisfaction
