Implementation of a single sign-on system between practice, research and learning systems

If you need an accessible version of this item, please submit a remediation request.
Date
2017-03-29
Language
American English
Embargo Lift Date
Committee Members
Degree
Degree Year
Department
Grantor
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Found At
Thieme
Abstract

Background: Multiple specialized electronic medical systems are utilized in the health enterprise. Each of these systems has their own user management, authentication and authorization process, which makes it a complex web for navigation and use without a coherent process workflow. Users often have to remember multiple passwords, login/logout between systems that disrupt their clinical workflow. Challenges exist in managing permissions for various cadres of health care providers.

Objectives: This case report describes our experience of implementing a single sign-on system, used between an electronic medical records system and a learning management system at a large academic institution with an informatics department responsible for student education and a medical school affiliated with a hospital system caring for patients and conducting research.

Methods: At our institution, we use OpenMRS for research registry tracking of interventional radiology patients as well as to provide access to medical records to students studying health informatics. To provide authentication across different users of the system with different permissions, we developed a Central Authentication Service (CAS) module for OpenMRS, released under the Mozilla Public License and deployed it for single sign-on across the academic enterprise. The module has been in implementation since August 2015 to present, and we assessed usability of the registry and education system before and after implementation of the CAS module. 54 students and 3 researchers were interviewed.

Results: The module authenticates users with appropriate privileges in the medical records system, providing secure access with minimal disruption to their workflow. No passwords requests were sent and users reported ease of use, with streamlined workflow.

Conclusions: The project demonstrates that enterprise-wide single sign-on systems should be used in healthcare to reduce complexity like "password hell", improve usability and user navigation. We plan to extend this to work with other systems used in the health care enterprise.

Description
item.page.description.tableofcontents
item.page.relation.haspart
Cite As
Purkayastha S, Gichoya JW, Addepally SA. Implementation of a single sign-on system between practice, research and learning systems. Appl Clin Inform. 2017;8(1):306-312. Published 2017 Mar 29. doi:10.4338/ACI-2016-10-CR-0171
ISSN
Publisher
Series/Report
Sponsorship
Major
Extent
Identifier
Relation
Journal
Applied Clinical Informatics
Source
PMC
Alternative Title
Type
Article
Number
Volume
Conference Dates
Conference Host
Conference Location
Conference Name
Conference Panel
Conference Secretariat Location
Version
Final published version
This item is under embargo {{howLong}}