RECOGNISING HUMAN FACTORS IN EVALUATING USER INTERFACES IN HEALTHCARE

B. Kane1, L. Longo

1IRCSET Research Fellow

Overview

• Background

• Method

• Results

• Conclusion

Background – Evaluation of Use

• Nielsen’s Heuristics• 10 Usability principles

• Aerospace and Automotive Industry

• NASA

• Healthcare - Context of Use

• Pilot

Method

• Pilot Study

• Two House Officers + Two Wards (1 each)

• Ward A: 18 Long-Stay Elderly Patients with HIGH Dependency Scores

• Ward B: 10 Short-Stay Patients, Respite Care with Lower Dependency Scores than Ward A

• Questionnaire on use of EPR – over 5 days• Nielsens’s Heuristics & NASA-TLX

• Analysis

Nielsen’s Heuristics

• Feedback

• Speak User’s Language

• Clearly marked exits

• Consistency

• Prevent Errors

• Minimise User Memory Load

• Shortcuts

• Simple Dialogue

• Good Error Messages

• Help and Documentation

NASA-TLX

• Mental Demand

• Physical Demand

• Temporal Demand

• Effort

• Performance

• Frustration

Results - Overall Nielsen US

B

A

Results - Overall NASA-TLX

A

B

Results - Overall NASA-TLX – HMW

Ward A: High Dependency Scenario Ward B: Lower Dependency Scenario

Results - Interpretation• Usability of EHR can vary over time

• As clinicians approach the end of their working day, performance dramatically declines

• As a result of Decreased Performance, more Effort needed

• Usability Evaluation methods in Healthcare should be more refined to give better information

Conclusion

• Nielsen’s Principles, while helpful, do not take into account • Context of System Use• Impact of User’s Mental Workload

• Human Factors should be incorporated into System Evaluation in Healthcare

• More Research is needed into task issues in healthcare and usability

Reference

L. Longo and B. Kane, 2011,

A Novel Methodology for Evaluating User Interfaces in Health Care

Pages 1-6, 24th IEEE International Symposium on Computer-

Based Medical Systems (CBMS), Bristol, England

DOI 10.1109/CBMS.2011.5999024

Acknowlegements• R. T. Venkateshappa, R. Ravikuma and K. Nagesh for

helping in gathering data.

• B. Kane is funded through the IRCSET Enterprise Partnership scheme with St. James’s Hospital Board, Dublin

• St James’s Hospital Board