Central Denmark Region leads the way in user satisfaction of EMR

2018 survey shows that users of the Columna Clinical Information System in Central Denmark Region are the most satisfied in Denmark.

02 November 2018

For the past nine years, Professor Christian Nøhr and his colleagues at the Mærsk McKinney Moller Institute research centre have been monitoring the IT solutions in service in the Danish healthcare system. The first results of the 2018 survey were recently published at the E-sundhedsobservatoriet (the E-Health Observatory) annual conference held in the Danish town of Nyborg.

In this year’s survey, Central Denmark Region (Region Midtjylland) gets top ranking when it comes to user satisfaction, as a result of the region’s implementation of the Columna clinical information system, supplied by Systematic.

“The survey shows that users in Central Denmark Region are very pleased and satisfied with the system they use,” explains Christian Nøhr, Professor of Health Informatics at the University of Southern Denmark.

whether users understand the professional concepts featured in the system, and whether they have difficulties finding the information they need. If usability is poor, resulting in hospital staff having to sit in front of their screens for a long time to find the information they need, users will be dissatisfied. This represents poor exploitation of the system’s potential,” explains Christian Nøhr.

Number of passwords needed has dropped

At the same time, the survey shows that the number of passwords has been reduced over the last ten years – and that is a positive development, as Christian Nøhr also explains.

“The average number of passwords each user needs to have has dropped from four to slightly below three. It has long been a goal to reduce the number of password entries needed, and transfer over to what is called a “single sign-in” approach. This transition is a slow process, but the new numbers indicate that things are moving in the right direction and that staff don’t have to spend as much time as before on logging into the many different systems,” says Christian Nøhr.

IT security being taken seriously throughout Denmark

A new aspect of the study is that questions are now also asked with regard to IT security. For example, users are asked whether they are aware that they should be wary of opening phishing emails and other similar phenomena. Sensitive patient data and other information may be at stake – and according to Christian Nøhr, it is very positive that the 2018 survey shows that hospital staff throughout the country are now taking IT security seriously.

“There is widespread agreement in all the Danish regional authorities that users are now aware of the security issues associated with these systems. This is really positive because it’s a well-known fact that the biggest security deficiencies in setups of these kinds are those associated with what staff do,” says Christian Nøhr.

He emphasises that the study is a cross-sectional survey that does not comprise trials under controlled conditions. This means the study does not provide reliable evidence for any specific conclusion – although it does provide a clue about the general trend, according to Christian Nøhr.

“It’s interesting to monitor developments when asking the same questions year after year. Next year, I will have built up ten years of data, and so we can then really start looking at what happens over a more extended period,” he explains.

The answers from the doctors working in the Danish regions are expected to all be delivered by the end of October, and Christian Nøhr expects to have a broader analysis completed before Christmas 2018.