Towards a New Design Paradigm for Complex Electronic Medical Record Systems: Intuitive User Interfaces

Design of usable interfaces has preoccupied information systems researchers for decades however there is still little agreement as to what constitute usable systems. Many complex systems such as electronic medical records (EMR) fail to provide users with an intuitive interface and are not designed for environments where (1) users operate under severe opportunity-cost time pressures and (2) users engage in goal-directed activities to accomplish a task. Under these circumstances, what kind of interface should EMR systems present to clinical users? To answer this question the concept of “intuitive interface” based on theories of human intuition such as cognitive-experiential self-theory and cognitive neuroscience is first defined. Next interviews with clinical staff at two hospitals uncover various aspects of intuitive EMR interfaces, and point to the need to further study and improve this important issue. Significance of this research as well as future research directions are discussed.