Advancing cognitive engineering methods to support user interface design for electronic health records

Date
2014-04
Language
American English
Embargo Lift Date
Committee Members
Degree
Degree Year
Department
Grantor
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Found At
Elsevier
Abstract

Background Despite many decades of research on the effective development of clinical systems in medicine, the adoption of health information technology to improve patient care continues to be slow, especially in ambulatory settings. This applies to dentistry as well, a primary care discipline with approximately 137,000 practitioners in the United States. A critical reason for slow adoption is the poor usability of clinical systems, which makes it difficult for providers to navigate through the information and obtain an integrated view of patient data.

Objective In this study, we documented the cognitive processes and information management strategies used by dentists during a typical patient examination. The results will inform the design of a novel electronic dental record interface.

Methods We conducted a cognitive task analysis (CTA) study to observe ten general dentists (five general dentists and five general dental faculty members, each with more than two years of clinical experience) examining three simulated patient cases using a think-aloud protocol.

Results Dentists first reviewed the patient’s demographics, chief complaint, medical history and dental history to determine the general status of the patient. Subsequently, they proceeded to examine the patient’s intraoral status using radiographs, intraoral images, hard tissue and periodontal tissue information. The results also identified dentists’ patterns of navigation through patient’s information and additional information needs during a typical clinician-patient encounter.

Conclusion This study reinforced the significance of applying cognitive engineering methods to inform the design of a clinical system. Second, applying CTA to a scenario closely simulating an actual patient encounter helped with capturing participants’ knowledge states and decision-making when diagnosing and treating a patient. The resultant knowledge of dentists’ patterns of information retrieval and review will significantly contribute to designing flexible and task-appropriate information presentation in electronic dental records.

Description
item.page.description.tableofcontents
item.page.relation.haspart
Cite As
Thyvalikakath, T. P., Dziabiak, M. P., Johnson, R., Torres-Urquidy, M. H., Acharya, A., Yabes, J., & Schleyer, T. K. (2014). Advancing cognitive engineering methods to support user interface design for electronic health records. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 83(4), 292–302. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2014.01.007
ISSN
1386-5056
Publisher
Series/Report
Sponsorship
Major
Extent
Identifier
Relation
Journal
International journal of medical informatics
Rights
Publisher Policy
Source
PMC
Alternative Title
Type
Article
Number
Volume
Conference Dates
Conference Host
Conference Location
Conference Name
Conference Panel
Conference Secretariat Location
Version
Author's manuscript
Full Text Available at
This item is under embargo {{howLong}}