EHR Design - Best Software for Clinics

Good design requires high-quality skills and extensive experience. However, mistakes still happen from time to time. Let's examine the most common errors to avoid while building an EHR system.

1. Overcomplicated User Interface

The best system is user-friendly and understandable at first glance. If the system is overcomplicated, the risk of errors rises. Users, like doctors, should take care of patients but should not have to worry about fixing their EHR system. It should naturally complement their processes, helping with routine tasks.

2. Inadequate Patient Identification Systems

EHR systems contain a lot of personal information. Even so, mistakes in patient identification happen. Usually, the reason is due to incorrect links that can confuse patients with some of the same data. To avoid mistakes, the EHR design should be thoroughly tested before launching it in a real environment. Designers should consider the most common fields that can be confused and propose a solution that minimizes risks. Patient data is a highly sensitive subject, and any misuse-even through accident-can potentially risk the hospital's reputation .

3. Poor Medical Decision-Making Documentation

Documentation should be placed exactly where doctors expect it to be. This distinguishes a good EHR system from a basic one. It's vital that designers think exactly like medical professionals to provide all the necessary files to improve decision-making processes. Moreover, lack of documentation may result in payment errors, difficulties for patients changing doctors or hospitals, and other issues.

4. Ineffective Copy-and-Paste Functionality

EHR systems should have a mechanism to prevent mistakes connected with data entry. Copy and paste are excellent functions that work great-until the moment when the field to paste is chosen incorrectly. Bad EHR design can lead to many errors that will be difficult to correct. The best way is to initially think through the negative options and introduce restrictions to avoid them.

5. Flawed System Design

The architecture of the EHR system should be carefully thought out at the first stage of design. Establishing a great base architecture will help to avoid other serious mistakes. Issues in system design cause delays in the process, including the work of doctors and administrators. Skipping the first stage is unacceptable if you want a reliable, working EHR system.

6. Additional Design Considerations

Our experience includes development of many different EHR systems. We create new and redesign old software to meet modern requirements, and each project requires an individual approach to meet specific business needs. In this section, we highlight our work in redesigning an old EHR system for Chinese medicine clinics. This was a big project requiring the work of many designers to improve the system's functions and usability.

Upgraded the patient information section

We entirely rebuilt the section with personal information, changing it to be displayed in a sidebar of the interface. Here, the user can see a patient's photo, health status, and ID number. This sidebar enables the doctor or health specialist to easily identify the patient and his or her needs at a glance. All contact information, including a phone number, email, and emergency contacts, is collected in one place. Before the redesign, some of this information was kept in handwritten form, which was both inconvenient and a big risk for data loss.

We decided to add more visualisation for easy description and created an interactive human body diagram. This diagram allows a doctor to mark the body diagram, showing pain locations and intensity. He or she can annotate the diagram, showing exactly what part of the body is being examined and why. This digital model greatly improves convenience in times when a patient changes specialist or returns after a long absence, easily restoring the patient's health picture without missing details.

This digitalization reduced paperwork and optimized work processes by simplifying storage of notes and restoring a patient's health picture from previous records. Now, doctors have a clear visualization and convenient, organized information.

A new look at the appointment system

We completely changed the color scheme for the new EHR system. Before, the background was dark blue, which interfered with clearly seeing and reading information. We updated the background to a light green in a minimalism style, which helped to highlight important notes and view all necessary information at a glance. We also added color indicators highlighting patient statuses on the screen and reorganized the page elements for better understanding.

We also added new features to the appointment system. The modern calendar built into the interface helps to plan visits easily in the program. Here, administrators can manage the length of the appointment and create a clear and convenient schedule for the doctor. All necessary data to make the appointment, such as patient ID number and date of birth, is clearly visible

These updates may appear merely cosmetic, but great productivity is in the details. Now, employees see the difference and work more effectively because everything they need is in one place and they are no longer tied to old-fashioned design that doesn't correspond to modern business practices.

User-friendly design of the calendar

One of the main duties of the clinic's administrators was to quickly make an appointment. The clinic's main requirement for the EHR system was to make the appointment system more productive and user-friendly. With that in mind, we created a totally new calendar that allows administrators to book appointments in 15-minute slots. This streamlined their routine work, as all the necessary data pulls up automatically with the patient's personal information. Since the process is automated, it helps to avoid duplication. We also built in a notification system to remind clients about their appointments, which reduces the number of untimely cancellations.

We alo rebuilt the patient's personal account page. Whereas previously the insurance and payment status appeared on different pages, the new page clearly shows insurance and payment status in one place. All necessary documents are uploaded automatically, which greatly helps the administrator to manage the payment process.

Reimagined invoice management

Another feature that has been totally transformed is financial management-especially invoicing. Whereas the old system displayed data like a spreadsheet without highlighting the most important requests, now the invoicing system is a modern, more intuitive and highly effective system that manages everything connected to payment. The new system presents the data as a hierarchical list that hides information not currently in use and leaves only the information that is needed. We added statuses for easy management of the payments in progress or completed, and filters to select specific parts of the invoices by criteria.

The design of the whole system changed from an old-fashioned display to one that is modern and highly functional. The result can be seen in the color, organization of elements, and new functions that speed up the working process and improve the system's use. The redesign greatly improved efficiency for doctors and administrators. They report that much of their routine work has been replaced by this EHR system, freeing up more time for patients and more complicated tasks.