NIST EHR Usability Guide

NIST releases their guide to usability for Electronic Health Records applying the principles and processes of user-centered design and usability testing. ISO standards describe usability as "the effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction with which the intended users can achieve their tasks in the intended context of product use."

Effectiveness measures include "the percentage of tasks accomplished (success rate), the percentage of tasks achieved per unit of time, and the path or manner in which the tasks were achieved."

Efficiency is established by the time taken to complete each task.

Satisfaction is based on subjective measurement tools. Two referenced publicly available scales are the Software Usability Measurement Inventory (SUMI) and the System Usability Scale (SUS).

The guide includes a good framework for formative and summative usability testing

Barriers chart from Gans, et. al. 2005, Health Affairs.

NIST Guide to the Processes Approach for Improving the Usability of Electronic Health Records