A Mobile App (BEDSide Mobility) to Support Nurses' Tasks at the Patient's Bedside: Usability Study

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Nursing Technology

Background:

• Clinical information systems increase documentation burden for nurses.
• This time-consuming task limits direct patient care.
• A user-centered mobile app, BEDSide Mobility, was developed to support nurses' workflow and bedside documentation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the usability of the BEDSide Mobility app.
• Assessed navigation and interaction design through usability testing.

Main Methods:

• Nurses performed daily work scenarios using the app.
• Eye-tracking and think-aloud protocols captured user interactions.
• System Usability Scale questionnaire and descriptive statistics analyzed performance.

Main Results:

• 10 nurses participated; most were satisfied with the app's design and interaction.
• Identified issues included icon ambiguity, navigation logic, and design inconsistency.
• One user unfamiliar with smartphones experienced difficulties.

Conclusions:

• The BEDSide Mobility app demonstrates good usability, high acceptance, and satisfaction among nurses.
• Identified usability issues require further refinement.
• Results should be interpreted cautiously due to the experimental setting's limited ecological validity.