The intent is to measure the present satisfaction of computer users in hospitals, then to formulate and publish comparison standards for that satisfaction. A monograph will be published to assist hospitals to periodically self measure their user satisfaction and compare the results to the standard as well as their own previous results. The monograph will be made available through AHA, Arizona State University or some other source. The effort involves visiting 40 hospitals and administering an existing EDP user satisfaction measurement instrument to at least 1160 users. The resulting data will be used to establish standards of satisfaction for different hospital types, computer ownerships, application areas and computer interface philosophies. The resulting data will be used to identify reasonable levels of EDP performance and areas where user satisfaction and performance are highly correlated. Results will be correlated to an independent measure of system utilization. With the resulting methodology and standards, individual hospitals can measure their own users' satisfaction. The measurement instrument not only measures the overall satisfaction for individuals and groups, it also identifies those factors causing dissatisfaction. Therefore, problems can be rationally identified as the first step in improving EDP effectiveness. Improved EDP effectiveness can in turn lead to increased utilization of outputs and more effective health care management.
