title: Usability assessment of an electronic health record in a comprehensive dental clinic.
abstract: In this paper we present the development and usability of an electronic health record (EHR) system in a comprehensive dental clinic.The graphic user interface of the system was designed to consider the concept of cognitive ergonomics.The cognitive task analysis was used to evaluate the user interface of the EHR by identifying all sub-tasks and classifying them into mental or physical operators, and to predict task execution time required to perform the given task. We randomly selected 30 cases that had oral examinations for routine clinical care in a comprehensive dental clinic. The results were based on the analysis of 4 prototypical tasks performed by ten EHR users. The results showed that on average a user needed to go through 27 steps to complete all tasks for one case. To perform all 4 tasks of 30 cases, they spent about 91 min (independent of system response time) for data entry, of which 51.8 min were spent on more effortful mental operators. In conclusion, the user interface can be improved by reducing the percentage of mental effort required for the tasks.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Dentistry, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, Thailand.
authors.forename: Siriwan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suebnukarn
authors.forename: Pawornwan
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rittipakorn
authors.forename: Budsara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thongyoi
authors.forename: Kwanwong
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Boonpitak
authors.forename: Mansuang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wongsapai
authors.forename: Panu
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pakdeesan
keywords: Cognitive ergonomics; Cognitive task analysis; Electronic oral health record; Usability study