A practical guide to assess the level of "friendliness" of medical applications to users
(The original article is an adaptation of the official document of the mHIMSS organization )
Despite the depth of research into the level of usability of mobile applications in official sources, their results may not always be applicable to the work of medium and small enterprises.
Based on the latest trends and established practices in relevant areas, this article outlines the main steps for assessing the usability of mobile applications.
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Regardless of whether you downloaded a free medical application, whether you are going to buy an improved version of the software, or compare similar applications, the algorithm below will help you in choosing the “friendlier” of them.
When choosing an application, think about the most important goals in your practice and how they relate to usability. For example, choose which of the following is most important to you:
Consider what parameters your goals may depend on and how to measure them. For example, efficiency is usually measured by the amount of time spent on a particular action. The level of compliance with expectations can be measured using a survey immediately after assessing the usability of the application. Measuring the time required for users to perform a certain number of test tasks from user scenarios, as well as the number of successful and unsuccessful attempts, you can get a picture of the speed of mastering this application. Use the indicated goals as a starting point when reviewing and / or comparing applications that interest you. Depending on the degree of importance for you of one or another aspect of efficiency, you can conduct a corresponding survey after each completed user scenario, and on the execution of the entire test as a whole.
Remember that many publicly available reviews of medical applications use information from unofficial and non-scientific sources. Most of the reviews and ratings are based on data on how users like the application, while information about the tangible usefulness and effectiveness of medical applications was only recently collected. Such reviews can help you formulate questions, but the app should not be evaluated by them, but based on the goals of your practice. It is hoped that in the future a system for evaluating the usability of medical applications will be developed, similar to that created by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for evaluating the usability of electronic patient records.
Useful resources about medical applications:
Another potential source of information may be your colleagues. Contact professional organizations for your specialization. Study the experience of your colleagues with the offer you are interested in. See how they apply it. Make a list of questions or comments you have when evaluating the usability of this application while observing the work of your colleagues.
Find out what difficulties these users have in mastering the application and adapting it to their needs. Ask them the following questions:
Do a usability test for the application you are interested in. The proposed methods are simple and unscientific, but have a clear structure and allow you to gather valuable information about the usability of the application.
Reproduce several likely medical situations in which important and common tasks will have to be solved using your application . If time is available, include complex tasks in the experiment. An example of a complex task: the use of three different applications in the examination of the patient - a consultant program for determining the diagnosis, an application for analyzing the latest patient's ECG, and an application that establishes the dosage of drugs during the course of treatment.
If you are testing applications with your colleagues, after each test, ask them to fill out the appropriate questionnaire with questions. Questions are needed about the practicality and effectiveness of this application and whether users are satisfied with them and whether they have any complaints related to the solution of each task. The full text of the official document contains typical examples of therapeutic situations.
A more in-depth review of usability testing is presented in the following NIST publications: Customized Recruitment Testing (NISTIR 7742) and Technical Evaluation, (NISTIR 7804) .
If you are testing an application for later use in personal practice and do not have the opportunity to interview your colleagues, go through the List of Basic Usability Parameters presented in the full text of the official document .
Prepare a final questionnaire to fill out the results of the entire experience of testing this application . Develop a simple rating scale for each question. If the number of your fellow doctors is representative, arrange an individual application test for each of them after a brief introduction.
Test the usability of the application . Below are the highlights of the testing process:
Try to recreate the situation close to real situations and consider the following parameters:
As an observer, do the following:
Consider the information obtained during testing during the preparation of the final assessment of the application . Regardless of the application you choose, send the test results to the developer. This will help him improve his software. If possible, take part in his future design work and in research into the usability of the application. This step will allow you to contribute to software development and increase the likelihood of not only the success of the application developer, but yours as well.
Despite the depth of research into the level of usability of mobile applications in official sources, their results may not always be applicable to the work of medium and small enterprises.
Based on the latest trends and established practices in relevant areas, this article outlines the main steps for assessing the usability of mobile applications.
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Regardless of whether you downloaded a free medical application, whether you are going to buy an improved version of the software, or compare similar applications, the algorithm below will help you in choosing the “friendlier” of them.
1. Decide on goals and objectives in your medical practice.
When choosing an application, think about the most important goals in your practice and how they relate to usability. For example, choose which of the following is most important to you:
- Improving the efficiency of refilling medical prescriptions;
- More effective use of information from patient records when explaining treatment methods to them;
- The effectiveness of the application of the program consultant in the diagnosis and treatment;
- The speed of development of this application.
Consider what parameters your goals may depend on and how to measure them. For example, efficiency is usually measured by the amount of time spent on a particular action. The level of compliance with expectations can be measured using a survey immediately after assessing the usability of the application. Measuring the time required for users to perform a certain number of test tasks from user scenarios, as well as the number of successful and unsuccessful attempts, you can get a picture of the speed of mastering this application. Use the indicated goals as a starting point when reviewing and / or comparing applications that interest you. Depending on the degree of importance for you of one or another aspect of efficiency, you can conduct a corresponding survey after each completed user scenario, and on the execution of the entire test as a whole.
2. Do not rely only on reviews from the app store. Use other sources.
Remember that many publicly available reviews of medical applications use information from unofficial and non-scientific sources. Most of the reviews and ratings are based on data on how users like the application, while information about the tangible usefulness and effectiveness of medical applications was only recently collected. Such reviews can help you formulate questions, but the app should not be evaluated by them, but based on the goals of your practice. It is hoped that in the future a system for evaluating the usability of medical applications will be developed, similar to that created by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for evaluating the usability of electronic patient records.
Useful resources about medical applications:
- iMedicalApps.com - reviews reviewed and written by doctors with the ability to search by application type, medical specialization and device platform.
- iPhone Medical Apps - reviews of medical applications for the iPhone.
- Happtique is a mobile medical app store created by healthcare professionals. Currently, they are developing a program of certification of mobile medical applications, evaluating their compliance with the conditions of medical practice and ease of application for quality and performance standards.
- KLAS - mobile database reviews, which KLAS defines as “products whose purpose is to provide physicians with access to information on patient records, the results of their treatment and other statistics on a mobile device”.
- Mobihealthnews - news and reviews of the latest medical applications.
Another potential source of information may be your colleagues. Contact professional organizations for your specialization. Study the experience of your colleagues with the offer you are interested in. See how they apply it. Make a list of questions or comments you have when evaluating the usability of this application while observing the work of your colleagues.
Find out what difficulties these users have in mastering the application and adapting it to their needs. Ask them the following questions:
- How quickly did they become fully comfortable with the application?
- What was easy to understand, and what were the difficulties?
- Did they need to search for non-standard solutions to any problems and why?
- What tasks could not be solved effectively due to the incorrect operation of the application or the complexity of its interface?
- What errors in the work with the application, from their point of view, are most likely?
- How much does the application increase their performance?
3. Assess the usability of the application in case of typical medical situations.
Do a usability test for the application you are interested in. The proposed methods are simple and unscientific, but have a clear structure and allow you to gather valuable information about the usability of the application.
Reproduce several likely medical situations in which important and common tasks will have to be solved using your application . If time is available, include complex tasks in the experiment. An example of a complex task: the use of three different applications in the examination of the patient - a consultant program for determining the diagnosis, an application for analyzing the latest patient's ECG, and an application that establishes the dosage of drugs during the course of treatment.
If you are testing applications with your colleagues, after each test, ask them to fill out the appropriate questionnaire with questions. Questions are needed about the practicality and effectiveness of this application and whether users are satisfied with them and whether they have any complaints related to the solution of each task. The full text of the official document contains typical examples of therapeutic situations.
A more in-depth review of usability testing is presented in the following NIST publications: Customized Recruitment Testing (NISTIR 7742) and Technical Evaluation, (NISTIR 7804) .
If you are testing an application for later use in personal practice and do not have the opportunity to interview your colleagues, go through the List of Basic Usability Parameters presented in the full text of the official document .
Prepare a final questionnaire to fill out the results of the entire experience of testing this application . Develop a simple rating scale for each question. If the number of your fellow doctors is representative, arrange an individual application test for each of them after a brief introduction.
Test the usability of the application . Below are the highlights of the testing process:
- Download the application to one or more mobile devices. In the ideal case, test participants should already be familiar with these types of mobile devices (for example, iPhone or Android phone) and their features;
- Ask test participants to conduct tests without help;
- All participants must fill out questionnaires both after each user scenario and at the very end of the test.
Try to recreate the situation close to real situations and consider the following parameters:
- How is it more convenient to use the device? In portrait or landscape orientation? Perform appropriate tests in both cases, if possible;
- How best to hold the device? One hand or two?
- How much text input with one or two fingers will affect performance?
- Are there any additional requirements in this particular case? For example, if the device is planned to be used for surgery, it should be tested with gloves and a sheath that meets the standards of the surgical ward.
As an observer, do the following:
- Note the time spent by the testing participant on the execution of each user scenario;
- Take notes during testing (without distracting the user);
- Mark successful and unsuccessful attempts of test participants;
- Make a list of common mistakes;
- Ask each participant to complete a questionnaire at the end of the test;
- Combine and summarize your observations, comments and reactions of users of the application;
- To analyze the user experience of using the application after the testing itself, you can record this process on video. There are many free and low-cost applications that allow you to use a webcam and laptop for this purpose.
Consider the information obtained during testing during the preparation of the final assessment of the application . Regardless of the application you choose, send the test results to the developer. This will help him improve his software. If possible, take part in his future design work and in research into the usability of the application. This step will allow you to contribute to software development and increase the likelihood of not only the success of the application developer, but yours as well.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/190990/
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