Potential impact of data source and interoperability messaging on health information technology (HIT) users: a study series from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs

Abstract

BackgroundThe promise of Health Information Exchange (HIE) systems rests in their potential to provide clinicians and administrative staff rapid access to relevant patient data to support judgement and decision-making. However, HIE systems can have usability and technical issues, as well as fail to support user workflow.ObjectiveShare the findings from a series of studies that address HIE system deficiencies for an Electronic Health Record (EHR) viewer which accesses multiple data sources.MethodsA variety of methods were used, in a series of studies, to gain a better understanding of issues and their mitigation through use of promising EHR viewer features.ResultsThe study series results are presented by the themes that underscore the importance for users to distinguish between data that are available but missing due to connection or system errors, data that are omitted entirely because they are not available and data that are excluded due to filtered search criteria.ConclusionsThe principal findings from this study series led to improvement recommendations for the EHR viewer, as well as citing areas that are ripe for further investigation and analysis.

Perceptions of chief clinical information officers on the state of electronic health records systems interoperability in NHS England: a qualitative interview study

“…, concerning computerised provider order entry (CPOE) systems used alongside EHRs in many hospital settings, found that usability problems contributed to nearly 97% of medication-related errors, with data entry and workflow support being the two most common types of usability issues [ 53 ]. Similarly, other design limitations such as the failure to support clinical workflow and unresponsive/slow systems have also been previously recognised [ 54 – 56 ]. In a systematic review by Mello et al ., the lack of consensus regarding terminology, classification, communication, and data transfer standards, all well-recognised problems, remain notable hurdles to interoperability today [ 17 ].…”

Perceptions of chief clinical information officers on the state of electronic health records systems interoperability in NHS England: A qualitative interview study

“…A recent publication by Adams et al, concerning computerised provider order entry (CPOE) systems used alongside EHRs in many hospital settings, found that usability problems contributed to nearly 97% of medication-related errors, with data entry and work ow support being the two most common types of usability issues [54]. Similarly, other design limitations such as the failure to support clinical work ow and unresponsive/slow systems have also been previously recognised [55][56][57]. In a systematic review by Mello et al, the lack of consensus regarding terminology, classi cation, communication, and data transfer standards, all well-recognised problems, remain notable hurdles to interoperability today [17].…”