Usability survey of an inpatient electronic clinical communication platform at a large New Zealand tertiary hospital.

Background: Internationally, there is significant published literature indicating low levels of clinical satisfaction with the digital electronic clinical record. Many New Zealand hospitals are currently undergoing a process of digitisation. The aim of the current study was to determine the usability of the inpatient clinical documentation and communication platform known as Cortex approximately one year after full deployment at Christchurch Hospital.

Methods: Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand Waitaha Canterbury staff were invited via their work email to complete an online questionnaire. It was comprised of the System Usability Scale (SUS) survey (industry standard mean scores: 50-69 marginal, and ≥70 acceptable) and one additional question about the participant's clinical profession within the organisation.

Results: A total of 144 responses were received during the study period. The median SUS score was 75 with an interquartile range (IQR) of 60-87.5. The median IQR SUS scores did not significantly differ among the different occupation groups: 78 (65-90) for doctors; 70 (57.5-82.5) for nurses; and 73 (55.6-84.4) for allied health staff (p=0.268). Additionally, 70 qualitative responses were recorded. Three themes were identified through the analysis of the participants' responses. These were: the need for integration with other electronic systems; implementation issues; and fine-tuning the functionality of Cortex.

Conclusions: The current study revealed good usability of Cortex. The user experience was equivalent among the various professions of the study's participants (doctors, nurses, and allied health staff). The present study provides a useful benchmark for Cortex at a point-of-time, and it sets up potential to periodically repeat this survey to see how new functionality has added to (or detracted from) its usability.