1. RECOGNISING HUMAN FACTORS IN
EVALUATING USER INTERFACES IN
HEALTHCARE
B. Kane1, L. Longo
1IRCSET Research Fellow

2. Overview
• Background
• Method
• Results
• Conclusion

3. Background – Evaluation of Use
• Nielsen’s Heuristics
• 10 Usability principles
• Aerospace and Automotive Industry
• NASA
• Healthcare - Context of Use
• Pilot

4. 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

5. Nielsen’s Heuristics
• Feedback • Minimise User Memory Load
• Speak User’s Language • Shortcuts
• Clearly marked exits • Simple Dialogue
• Consistency • Good Error Messages
• Prevent Errors • Help and Documentation

6. NASA-TLX
• Mental Demand
• Physical Demand
• Temporal Demand
• Effort
• Performance
• Frustration

7. Results - Overall Nielsen US
A
B

8. Results - Overall NASA-TLX
A
B

9. Results - Overall NASA-TLX – HMW
Ward A: High Dependency Scenario Ward B: Lower Dependency Scenario

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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