Usability evaluation of a commercial inpatient portal

•Insufficient knowledge of the system and tablet technology leads to operational errors.•Individuals’ learning habits and needs for the use the portal should be supported.•The role of the inpatient portal for patient-provider communication should be defined. Patient portals designed for inpatients h...

Full description

Saved in:

Bibliographic Details
Published in:	International journal of medical informatics (Shannon, Ireland) Vol. 110; pp. 10 - 18
Main Authors:	Yen, Po-Yin, Walker, Daniel M., Smith, Jessica M. Garvey, Zhou, Michelle P., Menser, Terri L., McAlearney, Ann Scheck
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Ireland Elsevier B.V 01-02-2018
Subjects:	Adolescent Adult Aged Consumer Behavior - statistics & numerical data Feedback Female Heuristics Humans Inpatient Inpatients - statistics & numerical data Male Middle Aged Patient portal Patient Portals - statistics & numerical data Personal health record Task Performance and Analysis Usability User-Computer Interface Young Adult Inpatient Patient portal Usability Personal health record
Online Access:	Get full text
Tags:	Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!

Description
Summary:	•Insufficient knowledge of the system and tablet technology leads to operational errors.•Individuals’ learning habits and needs for the use the portal should be supported.•The role of the inpatient portal for patient-provider communication should be defined. Patient portals designed for inpatients have potential to increase patient engagement. However, little is known about how patients use inpatient portals. To address this gap, we aimed to understand how users 1) interact with, 2) learn to use, and 3) communicate with their providers through an inpatient portal. We conducted a usability evaluation using think-aloud protocol to study user interactions with a commercially available inpatient portal – MyChart Bedside (MCB). Study participants (n=19) were given a tablet that had MCB installed. They explored MCB and completed eight assigned tasks. Each session’s recordings were coded and analyzed. We analyzed task completion, errors, and user feedback. We categorized errors into operational errors, system errors, and tablet-related errors, and indicated their violations of Nielsen’s ten heuristic principles. Participants frequently made operational errors with most in navigation and assuming non-existent functionalities. We also noted that participants’ learning styles varied, with age as a potential factor that influenced how they learned MCB. Also, participants preferred to individually message providers and wanted feedback on status. The design of inpatient portals can greatly impact how patients navigate and comprehend information in inpatient portals; poor design can result in a frustrating user experience. For inpatient portals to be effective in promoting patient engagement, it remains critical for technology developers and hospital administrators to understand how users interact with this technology and the resources that may be necessary to support its use.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	1386-5056 1872-8243
DOI:	10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2017.11.007