HEURISTIC REVIEW OF HEALTH CARE TRANSITION SOFTWARE BY: MAURA ROBINSON
*Organized in the order of task flow through the system
Title Of Problem: Discharge Tab Problem Description: The process of adding patients to the workbook starts on the discharge tab. This could be confusing, because when a patient enters a hospital, the action would not be to discharge them, it would be add them to the system. Severity Rating: 1 Heuristic Guideline: ● Match between system and the real world ● Consistency and Standards- Discharge also used for another action that literally discharges the patient in another area of the system Screenshot:
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Suggested Solution: Change the name of the tab to a clearer and more specific title that denotes this is where the process of intake through discharge begins. Title Of Problem: Workbook Problem Description: This is the workbook page, it is where the module for each patient that is being worked on is stored for easy access and switching between relevant patients. Although this page is referred to as the workbook, there is no title or heading to reflect that and affirm that this is the workbook page. Severity Rating: 2 Heuristic Guideline: â—? Recognition rather than recall 2
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Suggested Solution: Add a workbook title to keep users in context and affirm that they are in the right place. Title Of Problem: Add Patient Search Problem Description: The order in which the options for search should be placed in should be the most commonly searched information first. When users are given a list of patients, they first search by name. Severity Rating: 1 Heuristic Guideline: â—? Flexibility and Efficiency of use 3
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Suggested Solution: Place the First Name and Last Name search options first. Title Of Problem: Moving Selected Patients Problem Description: The button that moves patients from the patient to the patient search blends in, and is not a clear or intuitive function for the user. The font is also small and difficult to read. Severity Rating: 2 Heuristic Guideline: 4
â—? Flexibility and Efficiency of use â—? Recognition rather than recall Screenshot:
Suggested Solution: Make the Move Patients to Workbook button more visible, and to a different place, most likely the right hand corner above the tool bar for the patient queue. Also, change the font to make it larger and more readable. Title Of Problem: Action after adding patients to workbook Problem Description: Once a patient or patients have been selected, the screen returns to the patient queue, instead of bringing the user to the workbook where they have just added the patients. Severity Rating: 2 5
Heuristic Guideline: â—? Flexibility and Efficiency of Use Screenshot:
Suggested Solution: After a user has added patients, the system should take the user to the workbook in which they have just added patients in order to save them a step in navigating back to the workbook page. Title Of Problem: Return to Workbook Button Problem Description: The return to workbook button is small, and easily missed due to font and placement. Severity Rating:
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2 Heuristic Guideline: â—? Flexibility and Efficiency of use Screenshot:
Suggested Solution: Place the button in a different area of the page, make the aesthetic more easily visible to users. Title Of Problem: My workbook tab Problem Description: The my workbook tab lists all users in the hospital that are using the application. It allows a user to add a patient to another user’s workbook. This title is confusing, and misleading. Severity Rating: 2 Heuristic Guideline: 7
● Consistency and Standards ● Flexibility and Efficiency Screenshot:
Suggested Solution: Change the name of the tab to something that better reflects the action associated with using this function. Title Of Problem: My workbook Dropdown Problem Description: The My Workbook function under the My Workbook tab is designed to add a patient to the user’s workbook. The title and the action are the same, and should have different words to denote different functions Severity Rating: 2 Heuristic Guideline: ● Consistency and Standards Screenshot:
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Suggested Solution: Change the wording of the drop down function to “Add Patient to my workbook” Title Of Problem: Intake and Function Bar Problem Description: Users access the functioning areas of the module for each patient through a yellow bar that looks similar to a progress bar, and shows no labels until a mouse is placed over it. It also shows up under the level of care tab, which is confusing. Severity Rating: 3 Heuristic Guideline: ● Recognition rather than recall ● Flexibility and Efficiency of Use Screenshot:
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Suggested Solution: Add labels, make more prominent, place in a different location Title Of Problem: Plural Documents Tabs Problem Description: On the assessment page there are two tabs for documents, one placed under the forms area, and one with an individual documents tab. Severity Rating: 2 Heuristic Guideline: â—? Consistency and Standards â—? Aesthetic and Minimalist Design Screenshot:
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Suggested Solution: Have only one area for documents to avoid confusion. Title Of Problem: Unassigned Document Preview Problem Description: When a user is looking for an unassigned document, they must scroll through pictures of every existing unassigned document and look for a visual identifier such as the name of the patient. This can be time consuming if there are many unassigned documents. Severity Rating: 2 11
Heuristic Guideline: â—? Flexibility and Efficiency of Use Screenshot:
Suggested Solution: Add a filtering function to this section that identifies text so a user can use something other than a visual identifier. Title Of Problem: Save patient record Problem Description:
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In order to create a referral packet,the user must check the documents that they would like to include, then click “save patient record” this is not a good representation of the action of creating a package because there is no clear affirmation that saving the patient record creates the package. Severity Rating: 2 Heuristic Guideline: ● Match between system and real world ● Flexibility and Efficiency of use Screenshot:
Suggested Solution:
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Have three tabs under Assessment: Forms, Documents and Create a package. Have the ability to select documents for the package and then a button that says “Create Package” instead of “Save Patient Record” Title Of Problem: Internal Note Problem Description: The internal note function is a small icon at the top. There are also no notifications or messages to remind oneself or other users of internal notes. Severity Rating: 2 Heuristic Guideline: ● Flexibility and Efficiency of Use Screenshot:
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Suggested Solution: Add label and add notifications as reminders of notes. Title of Problem: Save and Remove, Save And Keep Problem Description: There are two options that are available when discharging a patient. Save and Remove saves the discharge information, and removes the patient from the workbook , while Save and Keep saves the discharge information and keeps the client in the workbook incase something needs to changed. This can be confusing to users. Severity Rating: 2 15
Heuristic Guideline: ● Flexibility and Efficiency ● Consistency and Standards ScreenShot:
Suggested Solution: Clarify the options by using different terminology in the buttons. Positive Findings ● Data entered into forms offers great follow through ● Ability to allow users to upload documents to the system remotely via PrinterQ is easy to use. ● Searching function in terms of finding providers based upon type of service is good and intuitive. ● Current system does a great job at notifying user about the status of a patient referral. 16
Summary: Curaspan has a great opportunity to develop a product that suits the needs of both young and older users who have a varying comfort level with technology. Curaspan currently has a product that heavily relies on the user to be already cognitively aware of how it works in order for the task flow to make sense. However, with their goals, as described by Curaspan, this task flow is conflicting with their intention to make their product suites easy and efficient to use.
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HEURISTICS Accessibility Regardless of the abilities of the user or the environment in which the system is being used, there should be no barriers to prevent users from using the system. Aesthetic and minimalist design Screens should not contain information which is irrelevant or rarely needed. Every extra unit of information on a screen competes with the relevant units of information and diminishes their relative visibility. Business processes Ideally, business processes should be aligned with users’ needs. When misalignment occurs, back-end processes show through and constrain the user interface. When the business processes cannot be changed, there should be adequate performance support offered to users. Clarity Users should be able to read content and instructions and understand how they should proceed. Additionally, users should be able to orient themselves easily within a website or product interface. Consistency and standards Users should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing. Error prevention Even better than good error messages is a careful design which prevents a problem from occurring in the first place. Allow users to explore the interface without penalty, and support Undo and Redo. Flexibility and efficiency of use Accelerators and short-cuts may speed up interaction for the expert user such that the system can cater to both inexperienced and experienced users. Allow expert users to tailor frequent actions. Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors Error messages should be expressed in plain language (without codes), precisely indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution. Help and documentation Online help and documentation should be easy to search, focused on the user's task, and list concrete steps to be carried out. Consider providing a glossary of terms. Organization Ensure that the interface supports the user’s expected workflow. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order within and among pages. Readability 18
Ensure that all text is readable by choosing sufficient font sizes, resolution and/or contrasting colors. Avoid highly stylized fonts and all capitals. Break up long passages of text with bullets and white space to allow easy scanning. Recognition rather than recall Make objects, actions, and options visible to the user. The user should not have to remember information from one screen to another. Instructions should be visible or easily retrievable whenever appropriate. Terminology The system should speak the users' language, with words, phrases and concepts familiar to the user, rather than system-oriented terms or jargon. User control and freedom Users often choose options by mistake and need a clearly marked "emergency exit" to leave the unwanted state or screen without making any changes. Also, provide users with the features and options that they require at the appropriate point in a process. Visibility of system status The system should always keep users informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within reasonable time.
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