User interface considerations for collecting data at the point of care in the tablet PC computing environment

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Clinical User Interface Design

Background:

• Collecting clinical data from healthcare providers presents significant challenges.
• Existing development environments often lack suitable components for point-of-care tablet applications.
• User interface design for electronic healthcare applications needs optimization for clinical settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and resolve user interface (UI) issues in clinical data collection on tablet computers.
• To improve the usability of electronic healthcare applications at the point of care.
• To enhance the clinician experience for data entry and display.

Main Methods:

• Employed an iterative design and testing methodology.
• Conducted think-aloud sessions with clinicians in an eye care setting.
• Focused on identifying specific UI component problems in tablet-based data collection.

Main Results:

• Resolved issues with small, difficult-to-select checkboxes for stylus use.
• Addressed problems with radio buttons that could not be deselected.
• Improved font sizes for better readability at a typical viewing distance.

Conclusions:

• Iterative UI design and user testing are crucial for effective clinical data collection tools.
• Addressing specific usability issues enhances the efficiency and accuracy of point-of-care data entry.
• Optimized user interfaces are essential for successful adoption of electronic health records on mobile devices.