APPLYING HUMAN FACTORS ENGINEERING TO IMPROVE USABILITY AND WORKFLOW IN PATHOLOGY INFORMATICS

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Digital Pathology

Background:

• Health information technology (HIT) design often overlooks human factors engineering principles.
• Usability issues in HIT can hinder effective clinical workflows and user adoption.
• Heuristic evaluation offers a practical method for identifying interface usability problems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To apply human factors engineering principles to enhance the usability of a digital pathology image viewing software.
• To identify specific, actionable recommendations for improving the software's user interface.
• To streamline the user experience for pathologists interacting with digitized tissue images.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a heuristic evaluation of the user interface for a digital pathology image viewing software.
• Identified usability issues based on established heuristic principles.
• Formulated specific recommendations for software modification.

Main Results:

• Several immediate usability improvements were implemented based on the heuristic evaluation.
• Additional recommendations were identified for future software releases.
• The implemented changes aim to align the software with user expectations from similar applications.

Conclusions:

• Human factors engineering, particularly heuristic evaluation, is crucial for optimizing HIT usability.
• Simple interface modifications can significantly enhance user experience and efficiency in digital pathology.
• Future development should prioritize user-centered design to improve HIT adoption and effectiveness.