Perceptions of hospital electronic health record (EHR) training, support, and patient safety by staff position and tenure (20 August 2024)

Summary

Hospitals rely on their electronic health record (EHR) systems to help them provide safe, high quality and efficient health care. However, EHR systems have been found to disrupt clinical workflows and may lead to unintended consequences associated with patient safety. This study sought to explore the differences in staff perceptions of the usability and safety of their hospital EHR system by staff position and length of service.

The authors found significant differences in results across staff positions and hospital tenure:

• In comparison to registered nurses, pharmacists had significantly lower scores for EHR system training.
• Doctors, hospital management and IT staff were significantly more likely to report high frequency of inaccurate EHR information.
• Compared to staff with 11 or more years of hospital tenure, new staff had significantly lower scores for EHR system training, but higher scores for EHR support & communication.
• Dissatisfaction with the EHR system was highest among doctors and staff with 11 or more years tenure at the hospital.