Usability Evaluation of An Electronic Medication Administration Record (eMAR) Application.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Nursing Informatics

Background:

• Electronic medication administration records (eMARs) are increasingly adopted in healthcare settings.
• Despite widespread use, formal usability evaluations of vendor-supplied eMAR applications are lacking, particularly from the nursing perspective.

Purpose of the Study:

• To perform a formal usability evaluation of an implemented electronic medication administration record (eMAR) system.
• To identify and categorize usability problems within a commercial eMAR application.

Main Methods:

• Heuristic evaluation techniques were employed by four independent evaluators on a commercial eMAR.
• Seven representative eMAR tasks were defined, and evaluators independently assessed the system.
• Consensus methods were used to agree on usability problems and their severity, with findings validated by clinical nurses and informatics leadership.

Main Results:

• A total of 60 distinct usability problems were identified, corresponding to 233 heuristic violations.
• The most frequently violated heuristics included Match, Error, and Visibility.
• The 'Administer Medication' and 'Order and Modify Medications' tasks exhibited the highest number of violations and severe usability issues.

Conclusions:

• Numerous usability problems in the eMAR system may negatively impact nurses' medication administration effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction, potentially compromising patient safety.
• Improving eMAR usability requires shared responsibility between healthcare sites and software vendors.
• A call to action is issued for systematic usability evaluations and necessary application redesign to enhance user experience and bolster patient safety.