title: The impacts of second generation e-prescribing usability on community pharmacists outcomes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The results from past studies about the effects of second-generation e-prescribing systems on community pharmacists' outcomes and practices are inconclusive, and the claims of effectiveness and efficiency of such systems have not been supported in all studies. There is a strong need to study the factors that lead to positive outcomes for the users of these systems.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This paper intends to bridge the above gaps by empirically examining the impacts of user interface usability on the community pharmacists' outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  A quantitative survey research method was used and the data was collected from the community pharmacists, who use an e-prescribing system. Data from 152 questionnaires collected in a national survey were used to for the study. Partial Least Squares (PLS) path modeling was used to examine scale reliability, validity and hypotheses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The scale was found to test well for reliability and validity. Examining the hypotheses illustrated that ease of use (P < 0.01, t = 5.79) and information quality (P < 0.01, t = 6.24) of an e-prescribing system improved pharmacists' outcomes (including communication, facilitation of care, reduction of workload and medical errors) while ease of use of the system was influenced by user interface consistency (P < 0.01, t = 7.35) and system error prevention (P < 0.01, t = 5.29).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To improve community pharmacists' outcomes and practices, the ease of use, information quality, consistency and error prevention features of e-prescribing systems should be improved. It was found that information quality had a stronger impact on the outcomes and hence improving the quality of the generated information would have higher impacts on users' outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia. Electronic address: omid726@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Hamid Reza
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Peikari
authors.affiliation: University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Mahmood Hussain
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.affiliation: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Mohamad Shanudin
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Zakaria
authors.affiliation: Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia.
authors.forename: Norjaya M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Yasin
authors.affiliation: University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Abdelbary
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Elhissi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D055695:Electronic Prescribing / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019300:Medical Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D008875:Middle Aged; D010595:Pharmacists; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D016526:Workload; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Community pharmacists; E-prescribing; Outcome; Partial least squares; Usability