errors

The top 5 EHR usability problems and how to fix them!

This year at HIMSS in Las Vegas there was no shortage of talk about the “lack of usability” in EHRs.  In the final HIMSS16 show daily (Thursday March 3, 2016) there were four articles (“When EHRs cause Harm,” “5 UX steps to Healthy Clinical apps,” “Nurse: We face severe IT usability problems,” and “The leading health IT issues? Poor usability and missing safeguards”) that addressed some aspect of EHR usability.

For The Usability People, LLC the time for talk has long been over.  Many of you already know that we have been on an active campaign--by giving talks at conferences, on social media, and with our many Healthcare clients--to improve the usability of Health IT.  We don’t want more talk, we want to DO SOMETHING about this important healthcare issue.  Usability in healthcare it can save lives. 

 

The Fallacy of User Error

On Monday, Feb 3rd we all witnessed a glitch associated with a very high profile app--the counting of votes in the Iowa Caucuses.

In reading various news sources about the glitch, we've noticed all too many people blaming themselves for not being tech-savy. In a recent #HITsm tweetchat, a similar discussion emerged.

People are all too quick to blame themselves for not being able to use a poorly designed (or tested) system. We call this the "Fallacy of User Error."

A Bad UX can cause Death by 1000 cuts

The ISO 9241 standard presents the definition of usability as Effective Efficient and Satisfying in a specified context of use.

Lauber's Law: The best error message is the one that you don't have to show!

One of the easiest ways to improve the usability (and perceived usability) of a web/application is to improve the text that appears on the screen specifically around labels, embedded assistance and error messages.

In many web/applications, there is a false assumption that all of the users are already experts. In many situations, the placement of a simple bit of embedded assistance will help the novice and intermediate users know exactly what to do.

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