Electronic health records usability form physicians’ perspectives: a systematic review

Abstract

Background: Electronic Health Records (EHRs) usability is important to reinforce the quality of patient care and healthcare professionals’ performance. Thus, the main objective of this study is to identify EHR usability aspects from physicians’ perspectives. Methods: A qualitative systematic review was conducted based on research papers from 2011 to 2021 that studied EHR usability issues and aspects experienced by physicians, . Four databases, Medline, Scopus, Web of Science and CINAHL, were used to search and gather potential papers. Studies were included in the thematical analysis if they provided qualitative evidence from physicians’ perspectives of EHR usability concerns and aspects. Results: The qualitative evidence synthesis includes 12 research papers that have considered EHR usability issues as perceived by physicians. Five usability attributions have been identified: effectiveness, efficiency, learnability, flexibility, and satisfaction. In addition, 14 themes emerged in the usability attribution, only 2 of which were positive perspectives. Conclusion: Physicians noted concerns with several aspects of EHRs usability. The usability issues relate to poor effectiveness in information retrieval and representation, poor efficiency due to the unnecessary tasks and difficulty navigating the system. Therefore, there is a lack of learnability due to the complexity of the systems; further, proper flexibility and assistance are essential to reinforce EHR usability. EHRs vendors must outcome the usability flaws to promote the system’s usability.