User-centered design of central venous access device documentation

OBJECTIVE: Safe care of central venous access devices (CVAD) requires clinicians be able to identify key CVAD properties from insertion until safe removal. Our objective was to design and evaluate interfaces to improve CVAD documentation quality and information retrieval. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We applied user-centered design (UCD) to CVAD property documentation interfaces. We measured expert agreement and front-line clinician accuracy in retrieving key properties in CVADs documented pre- and postimplementation. RESULTS: The new approach (1) optimized searches for line types, (2) enabled discrete entry of key properties which propagated to the display name, and (3) facilitated error correction by experts. Expert agreement on key CVAD properties improved from 42% to 83% (P < 0.01). Frontline nurses’ perception of key CVAD properties improved from 31% to 86% (P < 0.01). Ease of use scores improved from 15/100 to 80/100 (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: UCD significantly improved data quality and nurse perception of CVAD properties to guide subsequent care.