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NIST Guide Helps Evaluate EHR Usability

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has outlined formal procedures for evaluating the usability of electronic health record systems in a new report, “Technical Evaluation, Testing and Validation of the Usability of Electronic Health Records.”

The proposed usability protocol encourages a user-centered approach to the development of EHR systems. It provides methods to measure and address critical errors in user performance before those systems are deployed in a medical setting.

“This guidance can be a useful tool for EHR developers to demonstrate that their systems don’t lead to use errors or user errors,” NIST researcher Matt Quinn said. “It will provide a way for developers and evaluators to objectively assess how easy their EHR systems are to learn and operate, while maximizing efficiency.”

The protocol is a three-step process consisting of an analysis of how the application functions, expert review, and validation testing of the user interface to make sure it works as intended.

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“We hope this encourages system developers to apply human factors best practices and incorporate user-centered design processes,” said Quinn. “These practices and processes have proven records in industries such as aviation, military systems, transportation, nuclear power, and others where safety is a concern.”

NIST Technical Evaluation, Testing, and Validation of the Usability of Electronic Health Records

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