Poor clinical system performance impacts clinician productivity and adoption of EHR/EMR technology

Compuware Corporation (Nasdaq:CPWR) today announced the findings of a survey of health care professionals to better understand the availability of their clinical information systems. The survey examined the length of time it takes for clinicians to log-in and how often they are required to log-in during an average work day.

The study surveyed 99 health care professionals at large and small hospitals in the United States, including nurses, doctors, CMOs and CMIOs.

The survey found that end-users of clinical information systems are not satisfied with the performance of those systems, and those that were satisfied are settling for less than acceptable response times. Key findings include:

• Nearly 50 percent of respondents did not find response times acceptable.
   
• 60 percent of respondents reported response times for a single log-in greater than 10 seconds, some as high as one minute or more.
   
• Nearly half of those that were satisfied with response times experience greater than 11 seconds—and in some cases as high as 30 seconds—for a single log-in.
   
• A majority of respondents log-in to their clinical information system more than 20 times per day.

Research shows that the average consumer will abandon a website if they have to wait more than four seconds for a page to load.  

"There's nothing more frustrating for a clinician than watching an hour glass on the computer screen while trying to deliver patient care," said Larry Angeli, Vice President, Compuware Healthcare Solutions. "These survey results show that poor clinical system performance impacts clinician productivity and may become a significant barrier to adoption of EHR/EMR technology. Healthcare organizations want to remove barriers to adoption and need to be able to monitor EHR/EMR performance. With visibility into clinician end-user experience, healthcare IT organizations can proactively identify and resolve performance issues before they impact patient care. This will ensure shorter log-in times and quicker page loads, increasing clinical satisfaction and adoption," said Angeli.

Compuware's EHR Service Delivery Solution uses Vantage to ensure clinical applications deliver the consistent, high-quality experience from the clinician's perspective that is required to maximize productivity and minimize risk to patients. The solution captures performance data across all infrastructure tiers, ensuring optimal EHR/EMR performance.