Study: Usability of EHRs May Contribute to Patient Harm

A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association finds that usability issues surrounding electronic health records (EHR) may be contributing to incidents of patient harm. Researchers from the National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare in Washington, D.C., examined reports from the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority database collected from 2013 to 2016. The study analyzed 1.7 million reports of possible patient harm that explicitly named an EHR vendor or product.

The reports came from 571 healthcare facilities in Pennsylvania and a large multihospital system outside the state. They were voluntarily entered by facility staff (mostly nurses) and described the safety event, contributing factors, and the effect on the patient, including whether the event reached the patient, whether there was harm at the time of the report, or the potential for patient harm.

Two usability experts reviewed reports to determine whether the possible harm report was connected to an EHR usability issue and then categorized those reports by the particular issue. Researchers found that only 0.11% of events mentioned an EHR vendor or product and 0.03% specifically mentioned EHR usability. But the study authors warned that due to the conservative research methods used, the number of incidents found could be on the low side.