ASSESSMENT OF A COMPUTERIZED PATIENT RECORD SYSTEM - A COGNITIVE APPROACH TO EVALUATING MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

Numerous research and development projects have been aimed at implemen ting computerized patient record (CPR) systems. Yet little emphasis ha s been placed on physicians' ability to learn and use these systems or on their effects on physicians' reason ing. This article describes an innovative approach to assessing these aspects of a CPR system. The m ethod involves observing physicians' use of a CPR under various clinic al conditions and analyzing the CPR system with a technique called the cognitive walkthrough. We will show how learning to use a CPR system cat change a physician's performance, with accompanying effects on inf ormation gathering and reasoning.