Cost vs. Benefit: What does NVivo Video Analysis of EMR Simulations Add to Our Understanding of User Experience?

Improving healthcare using phased, iterative and participatory methods requires time and resources to do comprehensively. The reality, particularly for practitioners, is that constraints related to human resources, cost and time may impact the rigor of data collection and analysis. Under such conditions, project teams may rely on tacit knowledge and expertise to fill in potential gaps in understanding and validate design decisions. But what kind of insights might emerge if we were freed from such constraints, and given the time to study a context in more detail? Our research group explored this question by using Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software (NVivo) and qualitative research coding methods to analyze a sample of video data collected from a series of electronic medical record (EMR) workflow simulations that were originally used to support EMR implementation in a pediatric hospital. The results from the NVivo video analysis revealed some details not previously captured by initial data analysis methods, but at significant resource cost. A comparison of video analysis methods, findings and respective costs are compared and discussed in the context of design development and implementation.