Usability evaluation methods usability body of knowledge. The impact of ehr usability issues on the perceived. Unc patients can now participate in telehealth visits through epic west virginia. Dec 16, 2014 new research claims the dominance of epic ehr technology would provide both advantages and disadvantages for ehr usability, interoperability, innovation. Practitioners in usability and usercentered design ucd employ a wide range of methods for gathering information about users and their tasks, analyzing needs, creating design solutions, iterating designs through testing and evaluation, and measuring efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction this section of the usability bok presents descriptions of methods, including. September 02, 2015 in the competition between leading ehr vendors epic systems and cerner corporation, the most recent clashes have centered on the approach each has taken in advancing ehr. Ehr usability test report for practicesuite ehr 18. Practitioners in usability and usercentered design ucd employ a wide range of methods for gathering information about users and their tasks, analyzing needs, creating design solutions, iterating designs through testing and evaluation, and measuring efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction. Enhancing patient safety and quality of care by improving. Since epic is a just a placeholder, user stories from an epic can be spanned across multiple projects. In my recent top 10 ehr barriers blog, i identified usability of ehr software as a key issue it appears that nist, with arra funding and onc guidance is doing something about it this sources sought request is to identify organizations with the capabilities to accelerate usability testing and guidance. Remote usability testing can quickly access insights and novel footings, while simultaneously creating myopic, distorted or biased understandings.
Ehr usability test report for epiccare ambulatory base. Remote usability testing allows you to conduct user research with participants in their natural environment by employing screensharing software or online remote usability vendor services. Epic and cerner rated highest for usability, with meditech. Pdf evaluating the epic electronic medical record system. September 02, 2015 in the competition between leading ehr vendors epic systems and cerner corporation. Merriamwebsters definition usable capable of being used convenient and practicable for use istqbs definition usability testing. For companies who are budget conscious and comfortable with housing their data outside of their firewall in a secure environment and who may not have sufficient dedicated it staff to manage their system. Think of epic as a book and user stories are its chapters.
Epic systems corporation, or epic, is a privately held healthcare software company. Sep 27, 2017 this year, in a magicianthemed extravaganza, epic executives extolled the value of big data analytics for revolutionizing ehr usability and ramping up physician satisfaction as they teased a number of new developments in machine learning, voice recognition, and natural language processing. Epic ehr software is integrated with trustcommerce to deliver a seamless user experience when accepting patient payments credit card, debit card, and ach. The system usability scale sus is a reliable tool for measuring the usability.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usability of the user interface and provide quantitative analysis of the usability of epiccare ambulatory. Epic, cerner, meditech lead klas usability rankings. Caldwell argues epic is more interested in facilitating record exchange between epic clients instead of with hospitals using other vendors. Usability includes methods of measuring usability, such as needs analysis and the study of the principles behind an objects perceived efficiency or elegance. Testing mobile devices such as phones, tablets, and. I welcome the nist work and hope that we can develop objective usability metrics as part of the certification process. Mcnamara is currently distinguished member of technical staff in sandias synthetic aperture radar programs, where she helps engineers, software developers and computer scientists solve usability problems in the design and evaluation of information visualization, visual analytics, imagery analysis and radar operational software systems across. To preserve the integrity of your usability testing results, take a purposeful and methodical approach to testing. Combine dashboards, reports, and integrate bi tools all in. Ehr usability test report for epiccare inpatient base. Also, integration of usability in agile methods will boost overall pro. In our opinion and that of others throughout the health care industry, epic is the best. A background report on usability and electronic health records prepared by westat under contract no.
Although effective training and implementation methods affect user adoption rates as well, poor 5 keys to emr usability healthcare it news. The implementation of epics software is a huge and expensive ordeal requiring large health systems to establish data centers filled with servers, hire hundreds of. The purpose of evaluation can be to improve the usability of the product as part of designdevelopment formative evaluation, or to assess the extent to which usability objectives have been. Nine essential principles of software usability for emrs. Epic approaches usability from multiple angles to create workflows that are simple, intuitive, and attractive while providing sophisticated functionality and promoting productivity and efficiency.
In light of our findings, we provide a set of recommendations on how to decrease the. Software should be capable and usable to qualify for certification. Epic, cerner, meditech lead klas usability rankings physician leaders have identified epic, cerner and meditech as top performers in the realm of. Intuitive data visualizations, sleek draganddrop interfaces, and more natural input methodologies such as voice recognition are poised to change the way physicians, nurses, and patients interact with their records, she said. Agile epic and feature specifications product develop. The purpose of this test was to test and validate the usability of the current user interface, and provide evidence of usability in. The latest klas report on emr usability charts product performance over. Usability techniques in development methodology are usable in the development. Is the dominance of epic ehr technology good for healthcare. In general, tests should be about 1530 minutes long made up of about 35 tasks.
For internal design projects, think of doubling usability as cutting training budgets in half and doubling the number of transactions employees perform per hour. Founded in a basement in 1979, epic develops software to help people get well, help people stay well, and help future generations be healthier. Sessions are frequently recorded with special software that captures interactions. Testing to determine the extent to which the software product is understood, easy to learn, easy to. That can hold multiple user stories which are focused on the specific scope. Healthcare it news travelled to epics campus to learn how the. Usability can be described as the capacity of a system to provide a condition for its users to perform the tasks safely, effectively, and efficiently while enjoying the experience. Methods of usability testing in the development of ehealth. Usability is a quality attribute that assesses how easy user interfaces are to use. It is a critical quality factor that controls the quality and the performance of any interactive software.
Software usability is one of the important issues of human computer interaction. Tap into the most comprehensive epic integration epic ehr software is integrated with trustcommerce to deliver a seamless user experience when accepting patient payments credit card, debit card, and ach. Distribute and curate all of your analytics content in a single webbased user experience. Nov 06, 2005 enterprise usability issues are most common in big companies, but theyre an issue for smaller companies as well. Theoretically, the history of usability studies is compared to that of archaeology as it transitioned from a cultural product focus to a. Through epic ondemand we offer dedicated hosting capabilities and provide any and all technical support you require. To this end, we present findings on the use of the epic emr system in the. In software engineering, usability is the degree to which a software can be used by specified consumers to achieve quantified objectives with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a quantified. To identify ehr usability and safety challenges, each site started with five years of patient safety events there were more than. The research need to be further improving to include best practice in 27, a case study was provided on how agile methods integrate with usability in a large software projects. Epic continues their industryleading usability performance, cerners customers are making the most usability progress, and meditech distinguishes themselves as having made up the most ground. Machine learning is the ehr usability solution can machine learning, interoperability, and the judy faulkner touch bring joyful usability to electronic health records.
But the focus on ehr usability isnt just to keep epics massive customer base happy. Usability evaluation techniques for agile software model. During the usability test, 72 healthcare providers used epiccare inpatient in simulated, representative tasks. Usability evaluation methods assessing the usability of a product with the purpose of identifying usability problems andor obtaining usability measures. It is nontrivial to assess user experience since user experience is subjective, contextdependent. Because remote testing has a narrow aperture, long sight line, poor context and quick turnaround, i invoke the metaphor of a spyglass in the hands of the ethnographer to understand this increasingly available digital research method. Services department at uva, and healthcare staff end users, with regard to the intended functionality and the usability of the epic emr system. Oct 29, 2015 epic tanks on ehr usability, interoperability scores for eds emergency department ehr users are demanding more interoperability and better usability from their products, but some major vendors arent delivering. The field of human factors engineering and usability assessment has a rich set of scientific methods, a strong evidence base, and is widely applied effectively in other industries. Each task was analyzed for risk using the methods detailed in section 3. Adding on the software modules to create a system similar to the epic system would add cost. User experience evaluation uxe or user experience assessment uxa refers to a collection of methods, skills and tools utilized to uncover how a person perceives a system product, service, noncommercial item, or a combination of them before, during and after interacting with it. Verona, wisconsin janet campbell is a software developer and vice president of patient engagement at epic systems.
How scalability, usability hold back ehr interoperability. Epic staff conducted a usability study of the august 2018 version of epiccare inpatient base1 in february, march, and august of 2018 at multiple healthcare organizations. In that role, she is focused on patient portals and engagement features but also on home health and telemedicine. Different methods for usability testing are particularly useful for testing and evaluating user interactions with data products maramba et al. Jan 03, 2012 for software and physical products, the improvements are typically smaller but still substantial when you emphasize usability in the design process. Supports epic community connect, epic hosted and customerhosted environments. John is an independent usability consultant and a contract project director with human factors international. Usability engineering, especially usability inspection, testing, and inquiry methods and techniques. Epic staff conducted a usability study of the epic 2018 version of epiccare ambulatory base1 in february and march 2018 at several healthcare organizations. But if you are new to usability testing, you dont have to go all in and use the templates above. It consists of a 10 item questionnaire with five response options for respondents. Development of software applications in different fields of business and every day humans life cause the business necessity for the usability or ease of use of software applications, websites and gadgets.
Description of each method and technique, with references, books, and characteristics. Ehr usability test report for epiccare inpatient ehr suite. October 29, 2015 epic scooped up the unenviable distinction of being the lowest rated major ehr for usability and interoperability within the emergency department setting, according to the latest black book poll with distinctive workflow and information accessibility requirements, emergency department physicians were deeply unsatisfied with being forced to. Originally created by john brooke in 1986, it allows you to evaluate a wide variety of products and services, including hardware, software, mobile devices, websites and applications. Only after extensive usability improvements did the application get deployed and adopted. Careconnect epic electronic health records multicare. Recommendations for future modification to either the epic emr system or to how it is utilized include. Usability increases user satisfaction and overall the efficiency of work. Usability is the important feature of the software design. Its critical that epic software developers understand users requirements, needs. John halamka, md, blogs regularly at life as a healthcare cio. Identifying electronic health record usability and safety. Apply to software test engineer, quality assurance analyst, tester and more.
A tools for choosing usability method and technique. Epic tanks on ehr usability, interoperability scores for eds. To help us analyze our user research results, we use various types of software. The usability testing epic publically reports for onc 2015 edition certification. Ehr usability testing methods for healthcare organizations. In humancomputer interaction and computer science, usability studies the elegance and clarity with which the interaction with a computer program or a web site web usability is designed.
Theoretically, the history of usability studies is compared to that of archaeology as it transitioned from a cultural product focus to a context focus. New research claims the dominance of epic ehr technology would provide both advantages and disadvantages for ehr usability, interoperability, innovation. A look inside epics ehr design and usability teams healthcare it. Remote usability testing can quickly access insights and novel footings, while simultaneously creating myopic. Mar 28, 2017 the purpose of this study was to evaluate the usability of the user interface and provide quantitative analysis of the usability of epiccare inpatient.
Making software a joy to use is a high bar, said faulkner to a. Usability testing is a type of testing done from an endusers perspective to determine if the system is easily usable. How to design a comprehensive ehr usability assessment. This is the article to give to your boss or anyone else who doesnt have much time, but needs to know the basic usability facts. User centered design process research its critical that epic software developers understand users requirements, needs, values, and goals. Epic is a good way to track complex features progress.
A look inside epics ehr design and usability teams. According to the company, hospitals that use its software held medical records of 54% of patients in the united states and 2. He has managed it departments and led the redesign of many intranets, public web sites, and productivity applications. Identifying electronic health record and medication reports. Nielsen established the discount usability engineering movement for fast and cheap improvements of user interfaces and has invented several usability methods. For customers who would like to have their software and data managed by their own it team behind their firewalls, we offer epic onsite, a deployment option that gives your team maximum control. Electronic has to go away as a distinguisher now, because everything is electronic these days. Usability testing is a type of testing done from an endusers perspective to determine if the system is easily usable merriamwebsters definition. Evaluating the epic electronic medical record system.
That means working closely with the usability team as well as the standards and interoperability experts. A summary of usability engineering in software development lifecycle. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usability of the user interface and provide quantitative analysis of the usability of epiccare inpatient. Using some of these checklists and templates gives you a head start toward an organized and effective usability study. Epic, cerner, meditech lead klas usability rankings physician leaders have identified epic, cerner and meditech as top performers in the realm of acutecare emr usability, according to the latest. I recently encountered one in my own small company, for example.