Assessing the Usability and User Experience of Health Information Systems: A Rapid Review

Background: Continuous improvement of health care is bound to the technological advancements affecting the quality of patient care, especially Health Information Management. The objective of our work was to assess the usability and end-user perception of Health Information Systems (HISs) which is pivotal to improve overall efficiency in medical centers. Methods: To understand the intricacies of assessing the usability of such systems at Hospitals, we conducted a rapid review guided by PRISMA, utilizing Medline and CINHAL databases, which resulted in 10,960 articles. Initially, these articles were screened by title and abstract, followed by full text screening with two groups of two reviewers each, which led to the inclusion of 98 articles in the final thematic analysis. Results: The rapid review resulted in ten major themes which offered a comprehensive framework for assessing the HIS user experience from the perspective of hospital end-users. These themes include: operational impact & usefulness, usability & interface, reliability & connectivity, impact on patient care, interruptions, hardware, user proficiency & training, service desk & information technology support, collaboration & communication, and security. Conclusion: The main findings suggest that the various HIS services are effective tools that enhance clinical workflows and subsequently patient care. However, some usability issues, such as complex system designs, interruptive alerts and system crashes should be addressed to improve health care staff's health care user experience. Future research should examine customized HIS designs to decrease workflow interruption, minimize workload, and improve staff productivity, which would ultimately optimize the user experience.