A Tool for Evaluating Medication Alerting Systems: Development and Initial Assessment.

Background: It is well known that recommendations from electronic medication alerts are seldom accepted or acted on by users. Key factors affecting the effectiveness of medication alerts include system usability and alert design. Thus, human factors principles that apply knowledge of human capabilities and limitations are increasingly used in the design of health technology to improve the usability of systems.

A Late Attempt to Involve End Users in the Design of Medication-Related Alerts: Survey Study.

Background: When users of electronic medical records (EMRs) are presented with large numbers of irrelevant computerized alerts, they experience alert fatigue, begin to ignore alert information, and override alerts without processing or heeding alert recommendations. Anecdotally, doctors at our study site were dissatisfied with the medication-related alerts being generated, both in terms of volume being experienced and clinical relevance.

Objective: This study aimed to involve end users in the redesign of medication-related alerts in a hospital EMR, 4 years post implementation.