An appraisal of published usability evaluations of electronic health records via systematic review

In this systematic review, we aimed to evaluate methodological and reporting trends present in the current literature by investigating published usability studies of electronic health records (EHRs).

A literature search was conducted for articles published through January 2015 using MEDLINE (Ovid), EMBASE, Scopus, and Web of Science, supplemented by citation and reference list reviews. Studies were included if they tested the usability of hospital and clinic EHR systems in the inpatient, outpatient, emergency department, or operating room setting.

A total of 4848 references were identified for title and abstract screening. Full text screening was performed for 197 articles, with 120 meeting the criteria for study inclusion.

A review of the literature demonstrates a paucity of quality published studies describing scientifically valid and reproducible usability evaluations at various stages of EHR system development. A lack of formal and standardized reporting of EHR usability evaluation results is a major contributor to this knowledge gap, and efforts to improve this deficiency will be one step of moving the field of usability engineering forward.