Nurse Informaticians Report Low Satisfaction and Multi-level Concerns with Electronic Health Records: Results from an International Survey

AMIA Annu Symp Proc. 2017 Feb 10:2016:2016-2025. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

This study presents a qualitative content analysis of nurses' satisfaction and issues with current electronic health record (EHR) systems, as reflected in one of the largest international surveys of nursing informatics. Study participants from 45 countries (n=469) ranked their satisfaction with the current state of nursing functionality in EHRs as relatively low. Two-thirds of the participants (n=283) provided disconcerting comments when explaining their low satisfaction rankings. More than one half of the comments identified issues at the system level (e.g., poor system usability; non-integrated systems and poor interoperability; lack of standards; and limited functionality/missing components), followed by user-task issues (e.g., failure of systems to meet nursing clinical needs; non nursing-specific systems) and environment issues (e.g., low prevalence of EHRs; lack of user training). The study results call for the attention of international stakeholders (educators, managers, policy makers) to improve the current issues with EHRs from a nursing perspective.

MeSH terms

  • Attitude of Health Personnel*
  • Attitude to Computers
  • Electronic Health Records*
  • Humans
  • Job Satisfaction
  • Nurses*
  • Nursing Informatics*
  • Surveys and Questionnaires