Key Points
Question
Is enhanced usability of an electronic health record system associated with physician cognitive workload and performance?
Findings
In this quality improvement study, physicians allocated to perform tasks in an electronic health record system with enhancement demonstrated statistically significantly lower cognitive workload; those who used a system with enhanced longitudinal tracking appropriately managed statistically significantly more abnormal test results compared with physicians allocated to use the baseline electronic health record.
Meaning
Usability improvements in electronic health records appear to be associated with improved cognitive workload and performance levels among clinicians; this finding suggests that next-generation systems should strip away non–value-added interactions.
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