Three Key Concerns for a Successful EPR Deployment and Usage

The health care environment is unique because of the large and complex organisation with a traditional hierarchic structure that is governed by laws and regulations. This paper examines how a large Swedish health care organisation work with usability issues regarding Electronic Patient Record (EPR) deployment and usage. EPR systems have great impact on work environment and clinical work routines will not be performed in the same way as before. This paper analyse how the EPR management and core business understand their EPR responsibilities and work with usability aspects at different levels in the organisations. The paper reveals that there is a conflict about responsibility between EPR management and core business management. The reasons for the confusion are contradictive understanding of what an EPR system is, an IT system or a tool for the core business to perform better health care work. This leads to that care staff's experience regarding the EPR system's usability, is not being listened to within the organisation. Three key concerns for a successful EPR deployment and usage are identified and further analysed; education, evaluation and support & improvement ideas.