Interface design characteristics of a popular emergency department information system

Integration of information technology (IT) in the medical field has increased with the patient safety movement of the past decade, but without an optimization of user interface (UI) design. In particular health IT such as an emergency department information system (EDIS) is becoming a common tool in EDs across the US. While there are published standards for the design of medical devices requiring usability testing, health IT systems do not have the same requirements. Although the EDIS was created to support work previously accomplished through a dry erase board, its impact on patient safety has yet to be studied. This study explores usability issues in an existing EDIS application and their potential impact on patient safety.