A new survey has found that nearly half of healthcare professionals are dissatisfied with their clinical information systems, frustrated by response times that can last a full minute, or even longer.

Compuware Corporation this week announced the findings of the study, which polled 99 healthcare professionals at large and small hospitals in the United States – including nurses, doctors, CMOs and CMIOs – to better understand the availability of their clinical information systems.

The survey examined the length of time it takes for clinicians to log in, and how often they're required to log in during an average work day.
 
It found that end-users of clinical information systems are not satisfied with the performance of those systems, and those who were satisfied are settling for less than acceptable response times.

Key findings include:

• Nearly 50 percent of respondents did not find response times acceptable.
• Sixty percent of respondents reported response times for a single log-in greater than 10 seconds, some as long as one minute or more.
• Nearly half of those who were satisfied with response times experienced lags greater than 11 seconds – and in some cases as high as 30 seconds – for a single log-in.
• A majority of respondents log onto their clinical information system more than 20 times each day.

Research has shown that the average consumer will abandon a Web site if they have to wait more than four seconds for a page to load.

"There’s nothing more frustrating for a clinician than watching an hour glass on the computer screen while trying to deliver patient care," said Larry Angeli, vice president of Compuware Healthcare Solutions. "These survey results show that poor clinical system performance impacts clinician productivity and may become a significant barrier to adoption of EHR/EMR technology. Healthcare organizations want to remove barriers to adoption and need to be able to monitor EHR/EMR performance.

"With visibility into clinician end-user experience," Angeli added, "healthcare IT organizations can proactively identify and resolve performance issues before they impact patient care. This will ensure shorter log-in times and quicker page loads, increasing clinical satisfaction and adoption."