5 Points of View from an EHR End User

Discussions surrounding EHRs and their adoption (or lack thereof) have grown into heated debates concerning their usability and effectiveness. And the most vocal folks, whose opinions could very well change the way EMRs work, are none other than the end users themselves: the clinicians.

That’s why we looked to David Hager, MD, to debunk some of the myths and explain some of the gripes he and his colleagues have with EHR systems...

...1. Just how bad is it? “The nature of our problems propelled a line of thinking that I hope might be useful outside of our own paralyzed system,” said Hager. To him, daily experiences with “clunky interfaces, awkward data entry, mind numbing popups, excessive mouse clicks, nonsensical forced choice radio buttons, slow response times, loculation of information, lack of integration or analysis, and identical looking notes,” is unbearable. “None of this would have inspired me to buy an EHR with my own money,” Hager added. So instead, he developed workarounds with word processor macros, spreadsheets, and .PDF software to do what the EHR can’t and won’t...