Usability Assessment of OpenEMR: Enhancing Healthcare Interactions
Abdelrahman Mahmoud, Jason J. Saleem · Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting · 2024
Electronic medical record (EMR) systems are pivotal in modern healthcare for digitizing patient records and improving clinical workflows. However, persistent usability challenges hinder their effective adoption and user satisfaction. This study employs a comprehensive user-centered design approach to identify and address usability issues in one such EHR, an open-source system named openEMR. Our main objective was to assess openEMR’s usability through several usability metrics. In addition to a summative usability test with 10 participants, we employed usability inspection (i.e., a heuristic evaluation) to generate additional findings using multiple methods. The results from the summative usability test provide a comprehensive perspective on openEMR’s performance. In addition to task-specific observations, participants offered insights into openEMR’s overall usability through a debrief interview. Through quantitative surveys, usability testing, qualitative interviews, and a heuristic evaluation, this study identified critical usability issues, proposes targeted solutions, and discusses implications for enhancing EMR systems in healthcare settings.