Background: Electronic health records (EHRs) are transforming the way healthcare is delivered. They are central to improving the quality of patient care and have been attributed to making healthcare more accessible, reliable and safe. However, in recent years, evidence suggests that specific features and functions of EHRs can introduce new, unanticipated patient safety concerns that can be mitigated by safe configuration practices. Objective: To develop an evidence-based checklist of safe configuration practices for use by clinical informatics professionals to safely configure hospital-based EHRs. Methods: A literature review was conducted to synthesize evidence on safe configuration practices; data were analyzed to elicit themes of common EHR system capabilities. Two rounds of iterative testing were completed with end users to inform checklist design and usability. This was followed by a four-member expert panel review, where each item was rated for clarity (clear, not clear), and importance (high, medium, low). Results: An expert panel consisting of three clinical informatics professionals and one health information technology expert reviewed the checklist for clarity and importance. Medium and high importance ratings were considered affirmative responses. Of the 870 items contained in the original checklist, 535 (61.4%) received 100% affirmative agreement among all four panelists. Clinical panelists had a higher affirmative agreement rate of 75.5% (656 items). Upon detailed analysis items with 100% clinician agreement were retained in the checklist with the exception of 47 items and the addition of 33 items, resulting in a total of 642 items in the final checklist. Conclusions: Safe implementation of EHRs requires consideration of both technical and socio-technical factors through close collaboration of health IT and clinical informatics professionals. The recommended practices described in this checklist provide systems implementation guidance that should be considered when EHRs are being configured, implemented, audited, or updated, to improve system safety and usability.
","abstract_html":"<p>Background: Electronic health records (EHRs) are transforming the way healthcare is delivered. They are central to improving the quality of patient care and have been attributed to making healthcare more accessible, reliable and safe. However, in recent years, evidence suggests that specific features and functions of EHRs can introduce new, unanticipated patient safety concerns that can be mitigated by safe configuration practices. Objective: To develop an evidence-based checklist of safe configuration practices for use by clinical informatics professionals to safely configure hospital-based EHRs. Methods: A literature review was conducted to synthesize evidence on safe configuration practices; data were analyzed to elicit themes of common EHR system capabilities. Two rounds of iterative testing were completed with end users to inform checklist design and usability. This was followed by a four-member expert panel review, where each item was rated for clarity (clear, not clear), and importance (high, medium, low). Results: An expert panel consisting of three clinical informatics professionals and one health information technology expert reviewed the checklist for clarity and importance. Medium and high importance ratings were considered affirmative responses. Of the 870 items contained in the original checklist, 535 (61.4%) received 100% affirmative agreement among all four panelists. Clinical panelists had a higher affirmative agreement rate of 75.5% (656 items). Upon detailed analysis items with 100% clinician agreement were retained in the checklist with the exception of 47 items and the addition of 33 items, resulting in a total of 642 items in the final checklist. Conclusions: Safe implementation of EHRs requires consideration of both technical and socio-technical factors through close collaboration of health IT and clinical informatics professionals. The recommended practices described in this checklist provide systems implementation guidance that should be considered when EHRs are being configured, implemented, audited, or updated, to improve system safety and usability.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Dhillon-Chattha, Pritma"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)","degree_level":"Open Access Thesis","degree_discipline":"Yale University School of Nursing","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Ruth McCorkle","Elizabeth Borycki"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2018,"date_issued":"2018-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2018-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:16:00Z","subjects":["Electronic Health Records","Human-computer Interaction","Medical Informatics","Patient Safety","User-computer Interface"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/ysndt/1056","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Ruth McCorkle","Elizabeth Borycki"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Dhillon-Chattha, Pritma"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Yale University School of Nursing"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Electronic Health Records","Human-computer Interaction","Medical Informatics","Patient Safety","User-computer Interface"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/ysndt/1056"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Background: Electronic health records (EHRs) are transforming the way healthcare is delivered. They are central to improving the quality of patient care and have been attributed to making healthcare more accessible, reliable and safe. However, in recent years, evidence suggests that specific features and functions of EHRs can introduce new, unanticipated patient safety concerns that can be mitigated by safe configuration practices. Objective: To develop an evidence-based checklist of safe configuration practices for use by clinical informatics professionals to safely configure hospital-based EHRs. Methods: A literature review was conducted to synthesize evidence on safe configuration practices; data were analyzed to elicit themes of common EHR system capabilities. Two rounds of iterative testing were completed with end users to inform checklist design and usability. This was followed by a four-member expert panel review, where each item was rated for clarity (clear, not clear), and importance (high, medium, low). Results: An expert panel consisting of three clinical informatics professionals and one health information technology expert reviewed the checklist for clarity and importance. Medium and high importance ratings were considered affirmative responses. Of the 870 items contained in the original checklist, 535 (61.4%) received 100% affirmative agreement among all four panelists. Clinical panelists had a higher affirmative agreement rate of 75.5% (656 items). Upon detailed analysis items with 100% clinician agreement were retained in the checklist with the exception of 47 items and the addition of 33 items, resulting in a total of 642 items in the final checklist. Conclusions: Safe implementation of EHRs requires consideration of both technical and socio-technical factors through close collaboration of health IT and clinical informatics professionals. The recommended practices described in this checklist provide systems implementation guidance that should be considered when EHRs are being configured, implemented, audited, or updated, to improve system safety and usability.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["An Evidence Based Tool For Safe Configuration Of Electronic Health Records: The Esafety Checklist."]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Ruth McCorkle","Elizabeth Borycki"],"dc:creator":["Dhillon-Chattha, Pritma"],"dc:description.abstract":["Background: Electronic health records (EHRs) are transforming the way healthcare is delivered. They are central to improving the quality of patient care and have been attributed to making healthcare more accessible, reliable and safe. However, in recent years, evidence suggests that specific features and functions of EHRs can introduce new, unanticipated patient safety concerns that can be mitigated by safe configuration practices. Objective: To develop an evidence-based checklist of safe configuration practices for use by clinical informatics professionals to safely configure hospital-based EHRs. Methods: A literature review was conducted to synthesize evidence on safe configuration practices; data were analyzed to elicit themes of common EHR system capabilities. Two rounds of iterative testing were completed with end users to inform checklist design and usability. This was followed by a four-member expert panel review, where each item was rated for clarity (clear, not clear), and importance (high, medium, low). Results: An expert panel consisting of three clinical informatics professionals and one health information technology expert reviewed the checklist for clarity and importance. Medium and high importance ratings were considered affirmative responses. Of the 870 items contained in the original checklist, 535 (61.4%) received 100% affirmative agreement among all four panelists. Clinical panelists had a higher affirmative agreement rate of 75.5% (656 items). Upon detailed analysis items with 100% clinician agreement were retained in the checklist with the exception of 47 items and the addition of 33 items, resulting in a total of 642 items in the final checklist. Conclusions: Safe implementation of EHRs requires consideration of both technical and socio-technical factors through close collaboration of health IT and clinical informatics professionals. The recommended practices described in this checklist provide systems implementation guidance that should be considered when EHRs are being configured, implemented, audited, or updated, to improve system safety and usability.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/ysndt/1056"],"dc:subject":["Electronic Health Records","Human-computer Interaction","Medical Informatics","Patient Safety","User-computer Interface"],"dc:title":["An Evidence Based Tool For Safe Configuration Of Electronic Health Records: The Esafety Checklist."],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Yale University School of Nursing"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:16:00Z"}