Usability of Graphical User Interfaces With Semiautomatic Delabeling Feature to Improve Drug Allergy Documentation

The quality of allergy documentation in electronic health records is frequently poor.

To compare the usability of 3 graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for drug allergy documentation.

Physicians tested 3 GUIs by means of 5 fictional drug allergy scenarios: the current GUI (GUI 0), using mainly free-text, and 2 new coded versions (GUI 1 and GUI 2) asking information on allergen category, specific allergen, symptom(s), symptom onset, timing of initial reaction, and diagnosis status with a semiautomatic delabeling feature. Satisfaction was measured by the System Usability Scale questionnaire, efficiency by time to complete the tasks, and effectiveness by a task completion score. Posttest interviews provided more in-depth qualitative feedback.

Thirty physicians from 7 different medical specialties and with varying degrees of experience participated. The mean System Usability Scale scores for GUI 1 (77.25, adjective rating "Good") and GUI 2 (78.42, adjective rating "Good") were significantly higher than for GUI 0 (56.58, adjective rating "OK") (Z, 6.27, P_adj < .001 and Z, 6.62, P_adj < .001, respectively). There was no significant difference in task time between GUIs. Task completion scores of GUI 1 and GUI 2 were higher than for GUI 0 (Z, 9.59, P_adj < .001 and Z, 11.87, P_adj < .001, respectively). Quantitative and qualitative findings were combined to propose a GUI 3 with high usability.

The usability and quality of allergy documentation was higher for the newly developed coded GUIs with a semiautomatic delabeling feature without being more time-consuming.