Usability in health IT :
Janice Ginny Redish, Svetlana Z. Lowry · 2010
On July 13, 2010, 27 roundtable discussion participants and more than 100 other attendees gathered at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for a full-day workshop on Usability in Health IT: Technical Strategy, Research, and Implementation.The workshop brought together people from the federal government, the electronic health record (EHR) and health information technology industries, healthcare providers, and universities to share current activities and consider technical strategies and tactics for improving the usability and accessibility of EHRs.Usability is defined by international standards as "the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use."Accessibility is the need to make sure any IT system works for all the people who must use it.Usability and accessibility are critical because, to improve care and outcomes, information systems must work well for the people who use them.Care providers ultimately use and act on the information provided through EHRs.No matter the functionality provided, an information system is for naught if clinicians and others cannot find what they need, understand what they find, and use the technology effectively, efficiently, safely, and with satisfaction.EHRs are of considerable interest and importance now because the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), enacted by Congress in February 2009, allocates considerable funding to promote the meaningful use of EHRs in the United States.Usability and accessibility, many believe, are critical to increasing adoption and meaningful use.The workshop was sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research (AHRQ), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC).AHRQ and ONC are both