Incorporating human factors methods into the configuration and implementation of an electronic health record system

Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems can help to improve patient safety by reducing common errors, but they can also introduce new safety risks associated with the technology itself. The application of Human Factor (HF) methods in an EHR implementation project is critical to identify usability issues early and optimize the build to ensure safety, efficiency, and alignment with clinical workflows. Despite the benefits, inclusion of HF evaluations can have time and resource costs which must be accounted for in the overall project plans and timelines. Based on our experiences with a large-scale EHR implementation project, this article outlines recommendations on how to incorporate HF evaluation methods into EHR design. Over the 7-year roll-out, the HF team had the opportunity to engage with over 400 clinical end users in 30 usability evaluations across the EHR project, which yielded over 2,000 recommendations for improvement to address usability issues.