TY - GEN
T1 - Lessons for electronic medical records from family medical practices
AU - McEwen, Timothy R.
AU - Elder, Nancy
AU - Flach, John M.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Motivated by the push towards the adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) systems, we conducted a series of observations, interviews, and patient record audits at four family medical practices to investigate the nature of record keeping in diagnostic testing processes. One lauded benefit of EMR is to reduce the number of steps required to process test results and reduce the number of errors. We found this to be the case. However, in offices with paper records, we found many instances where people helped create safety by correcting errors made at previous stages due to naturally occurring feedback loops that allowed for compensation. The EMR office faced unique challenges in this regard because of impoverished communication and feedback loops, both from the EMR system and support staff. It is important to appreciate the safety dynamics of paper based systems in the design of EMR systems and consider incorporating dynamics such as checks and redundancies into them.
AB - Motivated by the push towards the adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) systems, we conducted a series of observations, interviews, and patient record audits at four family medical practices to investigate the nature of record keeping in diagnostic testing processes. One lauded benefit of EMR is to reduce the number of steps required to process test results and reduce the number of errors. We found this to be the case. However, in offices with paper records, we found many instances where people helped create safety by correcting errors made at previous stages due to naturally occurring feedback loops that allowed for compensation. The EMR office faced unique challenges in this regard because of impoverished communication and feedback loops, both from the EMR system and support staff. It is important to appreciate the safety dynamics of paper based systems in the design of EMR systems and consider incorporating dynamics such as checks and redundancies into them.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77951541142&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77951541142&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1518/107118109x12524442636300
DO - 10.1518/107118109x12524442636300
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:77951541142
SN - 9781615676231
T3 - Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
SP - 650
EP - 654
BT - 53rd Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting 2009, HFES 2009
PB - Human Factors an Ergonomics Society Inc.
T2 - 53rd Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting 2009, HFES 2009
Y2 - 19 October 2009 through 23 October 2009
ER -