Workarounds in Electronic Health Record Systems and the Revised Sociotechnical Electronic Health Record Workaround Analysis Framework: Scoping Review

BackgroundElectronic health record (EHR) system users devise workarounds to cope with mismatches between workflows designed in the EHR and preferred workflows in practice. Although workarounds appear beneficial at first sight, they frequently jeopardize patient safety, the qu...

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Main Authors: Vincent Blijleven, Florian Hoxha, Monique Jaspers
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: JMIR Publications 2022-03-01
Series:Journal of Medical Internet Research
Online Access:https://www.jmir.org/2022/3/e33046
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author Vincent Blijleven
Florian Hoxha
Monique Jaspers
author_facet Vincent Blijleven
Florian Hoxha
Monique Jaspers
author_sort Vincent Blijleven
collection DOAJ
description BackgroundElectronic health record (EHR) system users devise workarounds to cope with mismatches between workflows designed in the EHR and preferred workflows in practice. Although workarounds appear beneficial at first sight, they frequently jeopardize patient safety, the quality of care, and the efficiency of care. ObjectiveThis review aims to aid in identifying, analyzing, and resolving EHR workarounds; the Sociotechnical EHR Workaround Analysis (SEWA) framework was published in 2019. Although the framework was based on a large case study, the framework still required theoretical validation, refinement, and enrichment. MethodsA scoping literature review was performed on studies related to EHR workarounds published between 2010 and 2021 in the MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane, or IEEE databases. A total of 737 studies were retrieved, of which 62 (8.4%) were included in the final analysis. Using an analytic framework, the included studies were investigated to uncover the rationales that EHR users have for workarounds, attributes characterizing workarounds, possible scopes, and types of perceived impacts of workarounds. ResultsThe SEWA framework was theoretically validated and extended based on the scoping review. Extensive support for the pre-existing rationales, attributes, possible scopes, and types of impact was found in the included studies. Moreover, 7 new rationales, 4 new attributes, and 3 new types of impact were incorporated. Similarly, the descriptions of multiple pre-existing rationales for workarounds were refined to describe each rationale more accurately. ConclusionsSEWA is now grounded in the existing body of peer-reviewed empirical evidence on EHR workarounds and, as such, provides a theoretically validated and more complete synthesis of EHR workaround rationales, attributes, possible scopes, and types of impact. The revised SEWA framework can aid researchers and practitioners in a wider range of health care settings to identify, analyze, and resolve workarounds. This will improve user-centered EHR design and redesign, ultimately leading to improved patient safety, quality of care, and efficiency of care.
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spelling doaj.art-b3d024f4cacf4a18b2ca2e08919491ec2023-08-28T21:04:54ZengJMIR PublicationsJournal of Medical Internet Research1438-88712022-03-01243e3304610.2196/33046Workarounds in Electronic Health Record Systems and the Revised Sociotechnical Electronic Health Record Workaround Analysis Framework: Scoping ReviewVincent Blijlevenhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0925-6355Florian Hoxhahttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6357-3015Monique Jaspershttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8040-9153 BackgroundElectronic health record (EHR) system users devise workarounds to cope with mismatches between workflows designed in the EHR and preferred workflows in practice. Although workarounds appear beneficial at first sight, they frequently jeopardize patient safety, the quality of care, and the efficiency of care. ObjectiveThis review aims to aid in identifying, analyzing, and resolving EHR workarounds; the Sociotechnical EHR Workaround Analysis (SEWA) framework was published in 2019. Although the framework was based on a large case study, the framework still required theoretical validation, refinement, and enrichment. MethodsA scoping literature review was performed on studies related to EHR workarounds published between 2010 and 2021 in the MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane, or IEEE databases. A total of 737 studies were retrieved, of which 62 (8.4%) were included in the final analysis. Using an analytic framework, the included studies were investigated to uncover the rationales that EHR users have for workarounds, attributes characterizing workarounds, possible scopes, and types of perceived impacts of workarounds. ResultsThe SEWA framework was theoretically validated and extended based on the scoping review. Extensive support for the pre-existing rationales, attributes, possible scopes, and types of impact was found in the included studies. Moreover, 7 new rationales, 4 new attributes, and 3 new types of impact were incorporated. Similarly, the descriptions of multiple pre-existing rationales for workarounds were refined to describe each rationale more accurately. ConclusionsSEWA is now grounded in the existing body of peer-reviewed empirical evidence on EHR workarounds and, as such, provides a theoretically validated and more complete synthesis of EHR workaround rationales, attributes, possible scopes, and types of impact. The revised SEWA framework can aid researchers and practitioners in a wider range of health care settings to identify, analyze, and resolve workarounds. This will improve user-centered EHR design and redesign, ultimately leading to improved patient safety, quality of care, and efficiency of care.https://www.jmir.org/2022/3/e33046
spellingShingle Vincent Blijleven
Florian Hoxha
Monique Jaspers
Workarounds in Electronic Health Record Systems and the Revised Sociotechnical Electronic Health Record Workaround Analysis Framework: Scoping Review
Journal of Medical Internet Research
title Workarounds in Electronic Health Record Systems and the Revised Sociotechnical Electronic Health Record Workaround Analysis Framework: Scoping Review
title_full Workarounds in Electronic Health Record Systems and the Revised Sociotechnical Electronic Health Record Workaround Analysis Framework: Scoping Review
title_fullStr Workarounds in Electronic Health Record Systems and the Revised Sociotechnical Electronic Health Record Workaround Analysis Framework: Scoping Review
title_full_unstemmed Workarounds in Electronic Health Record Systems and the Revised Sociotechnical Electronic Health Record Workaround Analysis Framework: Scoping Review
title_short Workarounds in Electronic Health Record Systems and the Revised Sociotechnical Electronic Health Record Workaround Analysis Framework: Scoping Review
title_sort workarounds in electronic health record systems and the revised sociotechnical electronic health record workaround analysis framework scoping review
url https://www.jmir.org/2022/3/e33046
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