A Qualitative Study of the Phenomenon of Physicians’ User Experience (UX) Pain Points with Electronic Health Record (EHR) Systems

Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems have become vital tools for managing electronic patient documentation in healthcare settings. Persistent problems of system adaptation, usability, and interface design are consistently reported with EHRs by stakeholders who rely on these systems to document and work through various clinical work processes. Research is limited on the lived experiences of physicians who use the system. A few studies have focused on quantifying the factors that describe the phenomena of “meaningful use” of EHR systems. A qualitative approach to studying the phenomenon of physicians' use of EHR systems is understudied and is relevant to investigate given the reliance on EHR systems in clinical settings. The presentation will highlight outcomes of an interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) study that was conducted with the goal to discover what emergency room physicians describe as the "pain points" of their user experiences (UX) with EHR systems. Their stories and perspectives reveal the various difficulties they face with managing task complexity, task demands, and inefficiencies of EHR system design.