Residents’ subjective mental workload during computerized prescription entry

ABSTRACT

To examine residents’ subjective mental workload when they enter prescriptions in a computerized physician order entry (CPOE) system. Twenty-two residents completed six prescribing tasks in which two factors were manipulated: numerical input method and level of urgency. Data on demographic characteristics, familiarity with CPOE, and pretest performance were collected. The subjective mental workload was measured by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration-Task Load Index (NASA-TLX). Temporal demand (Mean = 34.48) contributed most to residents’ workload on the CPOE task, followed by Performance (Mean = 29.23). No significant associations were found between workload and demographic characteristics, CPOE familiarity, or pretest CPOE performance (p’s > .05). A 3 × 2 repeated-measures ANOVA yielded main effects of numerical input method [F (2, 19) = 88.358, p < .001, η² = .900] and level of urgency [F (1, 21) = 169.654, p < .001, η² = .890], and interaction of input method and urgency [F (2, 20) = 87.427, p < .001, η² = .900]. Residents’ major sources of workload during the CPOE prescription were temporal demand and performance. Prescriptions entered by the row of numbers exhibited the highest workload. Workload increased with higher level of urgency. It is necessary to emphasize the negative impact of subjective workload, especially in prescription task under urgent situation. Further researches focus on medical staff’s workload are encouraged to ensure patient safety.

KEYWORDS:

• Computerized physician order entry
• mental workload
• NASA-TLX
• electronic prescription
• patient safety

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank all the residents who take part in this study.

Disclosure statement

The author(s) have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Author contributions

Dong Wei and Xue Wu designed the study. Dong Wei and Haiyan Gong collected and analyzed the data. Xue Wu monitored the progress of the study and vetted the results at each stage. Dong Wei prepared the experimental procedures which were vetted by Haiyan Gong and Xue Wu.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant [number 71601004]; and the Research on Education and Teaching in Peking University Health Science Center under grant [number 2017YB09].