Healthcare professionals' experiences with EHR-system access control mechanisms

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Clinical Documentation
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Access control mechanisms are integral to Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems.
• Understanding their impact on clinical workflows is crucial for system optimization and patient safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how access control mechanisms in EHR systems influence the information-seeking and documentation behaviors of healthcare professionals.
• To identify potential implications for patient safety arising from these behaviors.

Main Methods:

• A survey was conducted among healthcare professionals in nursing homes and hospitals.
• Participants were asked about their attitudes and experiences with EHR access control mechanisms.

Main Results:

• Access controls sometimes led clinicians to postpone documentation tasks.
• The ability to review others' documented information was also affected.
• Not all clinicians consistently logged out of the EHR system.
• Some clinicians admitted to documenting in the name of others.

Conclusions:

• EHR access control mechanisms can inadvertently disrupt clinical documentation and information access.
• Practices such as not logging out or documenting under another's credentials pose risks to patient safety.
• Further research and system adjustments are needed to mitigate these risks.