Improving Medication Information Presentation Through Interactive Visualization in Mobile Apps: Human Factors Design

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Health Informatics
• Patient Education

Background:

• Patient understanding of prescription drug information, particularly safety details in patient package inserts (PPIs), is often inadequate, leading to potential adverse events.
• Bridging the gap between complex PPI information and patient comprehension is crucial for medication safety and adherence.
• Human factors design methodologies offer a promising approach to enhance patient understanding of medication information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the feasibility of designing an interactive visualization-based mobile application for delivering patient package insert (PPI) information.
• To utilize a hierarchical task analysis (HTA) approach in the development of a mobile health prototype.
• To assess the effectiveness of a human factors-designed mobile app in improving patient knowledge of medications.

Main Methods:

• Constructed a hierarchical task analysis (HTA) for the drug risperidone.
• Translated HTA requirements into infographic designs and interactive mobile app wireframes.
• Conducted a usability evaluation of the developed mobile health app prototype.

Main Results:

• Successfully created a mobile app prototype incorporating HTA and infographics for delivering PPI information.
• Iteratively refined the mobile app design based on feedback from usability evaluations.
• Demonstrated the feasibility of using HTA methodology to translate complex drug information into an accessible mobile format.

Conclusions:

• A mobile prototype for delivering patient package insert (PPI) information for risperidone was successfully developed using HTA.
• The hierarchical goals and subgoals identified through HTA were effectively translated into the mobile prototype's structure and interface.
• This study highlights the potential of human factors design and interactive visualization in improving patient comprehension of medication information.