Electronic Medical Record Interface Design
Prototype exploring how clinicians navigate and summarize EMRs
EMR system design
This project designs a realistic EMR system to examine how physicians navigate and interpret patient information in real clinical situations. The interface includes three interactive tabs—encounter notes, demographics, medications, allergies, and related details—allowing us to observe what clinicians review before patient encounters and how interface structure shapes their decision-making.
Realistic EMR simulation design
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Encounter Notes tab: displays patients' past clinical visits and associated documentations, enabling physicians to review historical information efficiently.
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Visual Chart tab: summarizes structured patient data, such as lab results and, vital signs and chronic conditions, into an at-a-glance format for rapid assessment.
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Medication tab: lists prescribed medications, dosages and effective medication management.
Interview Process
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Recruitment: We recruited three practicing physicians to participate in the study and evaluate the EMR prototype.
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Prototype Interaction: Physicians completed tasks using the EMR prototype while responding to the patient scenario.
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Think-Aloud Method: Participants were asked to verbalize their thoughts while interacting with the prototype to reveal their cognitive processes.
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Observation: We monitored their behavior, navigation patterns, and points of hesitation while using the system.
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Thematic Analysis: The qualitative data collected from the sessions were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify key insights and design improvements.
GOAL
To safely observe physicians’ real EMR review workflows, we created a privacy-compliant EMR prototype that simulates authentic pre-encounter information review, enabling analysis of their navigation patterns, data priorities, and decision-making processes.
MY ROLE
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Designed a privacy-compliant EMR prototype with multi-tab patient views (demographics, medications, allergies, encounter notes).
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Conducted physician interviews to simulate real EMR review workflows.
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Analyzed information-seeking patterns and navigation behaviors using thematic coding.
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Contributed to interface design decisions and co-authored manuscript sections.