The Influence of Computer Experience and Screen Size on Use Performance and Perceptions of a Tablet-Based Chronic Illness Self-Management System for Older Adults

A usability study of a tablet-based chronic illness self-management system was conducted to evaluate the system’s usability and to examine the effects of screen size and computer experience on use performance and perceptions of the system. A two-factor, between-subjects design was implemented, in which 40 older adults aged from 55 to 88 years were equally assigned to two screen size groups and required to perform a set of self-management tasks. The results showed that screen size had no effect on either the use performance or perceptions of the system, and that computer experience had significant effects on the former but no effect on the latter. Older adults without computer experience tended to perceive the large tablet screen system as more useful. This study verified the usability of the tablet-based self-management system with older adults. Its findings suggest the need to determine an optimal screen size for consumer health information technologies, and highlight the importance of computer experience in usability studies. Future studies may address its limitations.

Experiences of technology integration in home care nursing

The infusion of health care technologies into the home leads to substantial changes in the nature of work for home care nurses and their patients. Nurses and nursing practice must change to capitalize on these innovations. As part of a randomized field experiment evaluating web-based support for home care of patients with chronic heart disease, we engaged nine nurses in a dialogue about their experience integrating this modification of care delivery into their practice. They shared their perceptions of the work they needed to do and their perceptions and expectations for patients and themselves in using technologies to promote and manage self-care. We document three overarching themes that identify preexisting factors that influenced integration or represent the consequences of technology integration into home care: doing tasks differently, making accommodations in the home for devices and computers, and being mindful of existing expectations and skills of both nurses and patients.

A human factors engineering paradigm for patient safety: designing to support the performance of the healthcare professional

The goal of improving patient safety has led to a number of paradigms for directing improvement efforts. The main paradigms to date have focused on reducing injuries, reducing errors, or improving evidence based practice. In this paper a human factors engineering paradigm is proposed that focuses on designing systems to improve the performance of healthcare professionals and to reduce hazards. Both goals are necessary, but neither is sufficient to improve safety. We suggest that the road to patient and employee safety runs through the healthcare professional who delivers care. To that end, several arguments are provided to show that designing healthcare delivery systems to support healthcare professional performance and hazard reduction should yield significant patient safety benefits. The concepts of human performance and hazard reduction are explained.