Electronic Health Record (EHR): safety and usability

Summary

Chances are, you’ve heard of an electronic health record, or EHR. Over the past 10 years, the vast majority of healthcare providers in the United States have implemented this technology to use in caring for their patients. EHRs have benefited us in many ways and hold tremendous promise. Given their widespread use, this technology now plays a significant role in the routine delivery of health care.

Less understood outside the healthcare profession, however, is that EHRs have introduced new kinds of risks to the safety and quality of care, due to serious challenges with EHR usability, or the effectiveness and efficiency of using the technology. These well documented issues can lead to clinician burnout and errors that directly impact patient safety.

In response, the MedStar Health National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare teamed up with the American Medical Association to show what they mean by sharing rare videos of real and simulated EHR usability challenges. They believe improving EHR design, development, and implementation to eliminate known patient safety risks and make them easier to use is the responsibility of healthcare providers, EHR vendors, policymakers, and patients, all working together.

Content

This page links to videos explaining what types of errors and challenges there are when using EHR's. By highlighting these errors and challenges may help mitigate future harm for patients.