EPR adoption—Is user-centred design the key to usability? (7 December 2022)

Summary

In this article for the Journal of mHealth, Victoria Betton looks at the importance of a user-centred design approach to developing electronic patient records (EPRs). She highlights four key principles, based on human factors, that should be considered when designing an EPR:

1. Start early with user needs—take time to build user needs and goals into your thinking from the start of your business case and keep them at the core of your requirements. Use observation, interviews and analysis of data (for example, clinical incident reports) to give you the insights you need.
2. Bake in adoption from the get-go—make sure there is sufficient resource and time in the business case to engage and involve EPR users at each stage of the process, from defining needs through to procurement, implementation and ongoing optimisation over time.
3. Get it right before you configure—use wireframes and simulation to test out before you start to configure the EPR. Make it as easy as possible for users to enter data in the right place the first time.
4. Iterate—create a process that allows for ongoing iteration, learning and optimisation of the EPR. Don’t send floor walkers in for two weeks and ask them to leave. Ongoing adaptation and improvement are key.