User requirements for a search feature in health information technology systems: A pilot study of emergency physicians

Navigating electronic health records (EHR) can be an extremely cumbersome task for physicians due to the dense and poorly organized layout that most systems use. This process leads to inefficient workflow due to the quality and timeliness of the decision-making process. While search functions have shown to improve clinician workflow, there is little research describing how clinicians use the search feature. This study aims to analyze how emergency medicine (EM) physicians retrieve information in an EHR and provide insight to develop a framework for future EHR systems. From interviewing EM physicians, we found that browsing, instead of search, is the preferred method of finding information. To increase search function use, providers want a smart-search system that anticipates what the provider will search next and the ability to search by patient complaint. These specifications serve as a framework for developing a useful and usable EHR search function.