Understanding healthcare providers' electronic health record (EHR) interface preferences via conjoint analysis.

Abstract

The emergence of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) has been beneficial in processing administrative and clinical data for quality healthcare information. Despite being patient-centered, a number of these technologies have a fractional consideration of the human-computer interaction, which affects the healthcare professionals as end-users. This attempted to surface the healthcare providers' preferences of an ideal EHR system interface in the community setting. Using an orthogonal main effect design of conjoint analysis, a select group of healthcare providers (n = 300) were asked to sort choice cards, which contains five (5) attributes of EHR interface with specific level. Data were analyzed using Sawtooth v.18 and SPSS v.21. High importance was given to color scheme and device platform. Further, the part-worth analysis revealed the preference for an EHR with the following attributes: (a) smartphone device, (b) triadic color, (c) minimalist design, (d) chunked layout and (e) icon-centered menu. Visual interest and technology needs of the community healthcare providers shaped their preferences. These provide substantial perspectives on how to improve usability of EHR interface systems. Findings underscored the expanded roles of the healthcare professionals in the successful development of EHR systems.