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Appl Clin Inform 2025; 16(01): 185-192
DOI: 10.1055/a-2444-0342
Research Article

Electronic Health Record User Dashboard for Optimization of Surgical Resident Procedural Reporting

Parker T. Evans
1   Department of General Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
2   Department of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
,
Scott D. Nelson
2   Department of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
3   Department of Pharmaceutical Services, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
,
Adam Wright
2   Department of Biomedical Informatics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
,
Chetan V. Aher
1   Department of General Surgery, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, United States
› Author Affiliations Funding This study was supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; National Institutes of Health; U.S. National Library of Medicine (T15 LM007450).
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Abstract

Background While necessary and educationally beneficial, administrative tasks such as case and patient tracking may carry additional burden for surgical trainees. Automated systems targeting these tasks are scarce, leading to manual and inefficient workflows.

Methods We created an electronic health record (EHR)-based, user-specific dashboard for surgical residents to compile resident-specific data: bedside procedures performed, operative cases performed or participated in, and notes written by the resident as a surrogate for patients cared for. Usability testing was performed with resident volunteers, and residents were also surveyed postimplementation to assess for efficacy and satisfaction. Access log data from the EHR was used to assess dashboard usage over time. Descriptive statistics were calculated.

Results The dashboard was implemented on a population of approximately 175 surgical residents in 5 different departments (General Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Neurosurgery, Orthopaedics, and Otolaryngology) at a single academic medical center. Six resident volunteers participating in usability testing completed an average of 96% of preset tasks independently. Average responses to five questions extracted from the System Usability Scale (SUS) questions ranged from 4.0 to 4.67 out of 5. Postimplementation surveys indicated high resident satisfaction (4.39 out of 5) and moderate rates of use, with 46.4% of residents using the dashboard at least monthly. Daily use of the dashboard has increased over time, especially after making the dashboard a default for surgical residents.

Conclusion An EHR-based dashboard compiling resident-specific data can improve the efficiency of administrative tasks and supplement longitudinal education.

Keywords

surgery - residents - surgical education - electronic health record - Epic - dashboard - case logging

Protection of Human and Animal Subjects

The study was performed in compliance with the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects and was reviewed by the Vanderbilt Institutional Review Board.




Publication History

Received: 01 July 2024

Accepted: 16 October 2024

Accepted Manuscript online:
17 October 2024

Article published online:
26 February 2025

© 2025. Thieme. All rights reserved.

Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

 

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