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21089 Usability Testing in a Resource Stressed Environment: A Model for Public Health System Testing

Tuesday, September 1, 2009: 2:10 PM
Hanover E
Laverne Alves Snow, MPA , Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Jose R. Morales, BS , Division of Epidemiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Matthew Samore, MD , Departments of Clinical Epidemiology and Biomedical Informatics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Marjorie E. Carter, MSPH, CHES , Dept of Clincial Epidemiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Kimberlee Ann Taylor, BS , Division of Epidemiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Kim Bateman, MD , Utah Clinical Leadership Group, HealthInsight, Salt Lake City, UT
Gary J. Mackelprang, BA , CaduRx, Inc, Farmington, UT
Anne B. Smith, BSN, RN , HealthInsight, Salt Lake City, UT
Bryan Gibson, DPT , Department of Biomedical Informatics, Salt Lake City VA Medical Center, Salt Lake City, UT
Rhonda Dzierzon, BS , Dept of Clinical Epidemiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
Audio File Recorded presentation
The success of health  information systems is largely dependent on patients' and providers' ability and willingness to use the system.  Systems are unlikely to be used efficiently if they aren't perceived as user-friendly, useful, secure and reliable.  As part of a personal health record/electronic medical record integration project, we successfully developed and implemented a low-cost usability testing process.  This hands-on, iterative testing involved patients, providers and informaticians to garner insight and suggestions on ways to enhance the system and its use.  Acceptability by intended audiences is determined by testing the tool with representatives from these groups.

While nearly all information systems are rigorously alpha tested by developers and beta tested by business/mission partners to resolve bugs, errors and other obvious usability problems, extensive usability testing with target users is not common.  Little has been published on usability testing for public health information systems, especially not low-cost approaches.

Our partnership for this study includes the University of Utah, HealthInsight (Utah’s Quality Improvement Organization) and CaduRx, (our technology partner).  The basic goals of our study, Patient-Centered Informatics System to Enhance Health Care in Rural Communities, funded by the Agency for Healthcare Resources and Quality (AHRQ) are to enhance communication between patients and care providers and to empower patients to become more involved with their health and health care. 

This presentation will discuss steps taken to develop the usability testing, collect and analyze data, and prioritize and negotiate requested system changes.  Specific steps include:

  • Usability scenario and iterative script development and testing
  • Beta testing the usability test
  • Usability test data collection and analysis
  • Process for prioritizing and negotiating system changes
  • Piloting modified usability test script
  • Participant recruitment
  • Formal usability testing
  • Cycle and process for analyzing results and iterative system enhancements
See more of: Pulling It All Together: How to Convince Both Managers and Users of the Need to Develop Integrated Informatics Systems
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