Exploring Dental Providers' Workflow in an Electronic Dental Record Environment

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Dental Practice Management
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Understanding dental provider workflows is crucial for optimizing technology integration.
• Few studies have investigated the specific workflows of dental professionals in practice.
• Assessing technology interaction at the point of care can identify workflow breakdowns and inform better design.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate electronic dental record (EDR) workflows using time and motion methodology.
• To identify specific breakdowns within EDR use.
• To uncover opportunities for enhancing dental practice processes and EDR efficiency.

Main Methods:

• Employed time and motion methodology to observe dental providers and staff interacting with an EDR.
• Utilized a custom data collection tool to capture workflow details during various patient visit types and front desk operations.
• Conducted both qualitative and quantitative analysis of observational data from four dental centers.

Main Results:

• Identified workflow disruptions in areas such as charge posting, radiograph viewing, e-prescribing, and patient scheduling.
• EDR interaction time significantly differed between dentists and dental assistants (p=0.013) and dentists and dental hygienists (p=0.003).
• Dentists spent considerably less time on data recording within the EDR compared to dental assistants and hygienists.

Conclusions:

• Workflow breakdowns in EDR use were observed in critical dental office functions.
• Significant differences in EDR interaction times suggest varying levels of efficiency and potential for optimization across dental roles.
• Dentists' lower data recording time indicates a need to re-evaluate EDR design for equitable time allocation and usability.