With a general lack of knowledge regarding electronic medical records in the ED, the objectives of this study were to solicit user satisfaction and measure documentation compliance of an ED EMR six years post implementation. User satisfaction was measured using a survey instrument, while documentation compliance was measured by conducting a retrospective patient chart audit analysis across two EDs in the same health system. One ED utilized the EMR, while the other was still using paper charting.
ANOVAs were calculated to determine significant difference of socio-demographic variables across survey responses. A total of 106 (35%) users completed the survey and means indicated that respondents were generally satisfied with the ED EMR. Both age range and user role in the ED showed significant difference across survey categories. T-tests and Fisher Exact Tests were calculated to determine significant difference of chart compliance between EDs. Patient chart audits showed an overall significant difference between the EMR (98 percent compliant) as compared to paper charting (86 percent compliant), along with several chart components (14 out of 23) that were significantly different and favored the EMR over the paper process. Both studies conducted should continue to be a permanent, ongoing effort by health systems to continue to measure and improve ED EMR usability and long term sustainability.