BACKGROUND
Mobile electronic medical record (EMR) systems are widely used based on the wide availability of smartphones; their ability to improve efficiency in medical practice has been demonstrated. However, the quantitative effectiveness of mobile EMR systems has rarely been measured.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to determine the effectiveness of near-field communication (NFC) integrated with a mobile EMR system in terms of physician turn-around time in an emergency department (ED).
METHODS
A simulation study was performed in an ED. 25 participants working in the ED participated in two scenarios, using mobile or a PC: one is locating randomly designated patients in the ED from the ED entrance, and the other is looking up the laboratory results of an ED patient at the bedside. Upon accomplishing the scenarios, participants responded to a 10 question questionnaire using a system usability scale (SUS). The main metric was turn-around time for each scenario. The secondary metric was the usability of the system, graded by the study subjects.
RESULTS
Locating patients from the ED entrance took 93.0 s (mean) using the mobile scenario, whereas it took 57.3 s (mean) using the PC scenario, which is significantly faster (P < .001). Searching for laboratory results of the patients at the bedside took 25.2 s (mean) using the mobile scenario, and 61.5 s (mean) using the PC scenario, which is significant (P < .001). Sensitivity analysis comparing only the time for login and looking up the relevant information also found mobile to be significantly faster. The mean SUS score of NFC-mobile EMR was 71.9 points.
CONCLUSIONS
NFC integrated with mobile EMR helped physician practice to be more efficient, with good usability.
CLINICALTRIAL
IRB File No - SMC 2018-01-144-001