An empirical study of the Health Status Questionnaire System for use in patient-computer interaction

Patient involvement in the health care process is very important to any attempt to improve health care quality and patient satisfaction. Although many computerized medical record systems have been introduced, physicians are the only players in the process of data collection and interpretation. A computerized version of the Health Status Questionnaire has been developed to provide a simple, inexpensive method of direct patient entry into the medical record. The system philosophy emphasizes user-centered design and an empirical study was conducted with one hundred twelve outpatients to evaluate the interface aspects of the system as well as the hardware preference of the patients. Statistical analysis indicate that the patients involved in the study rated the user interface of the Health Status Questionnaire System highly. The study also revealed that a considerable number of the general population still have negative preconceptions about their ability to handle a computer or similar looking machinery. When they were asked to use a desktop computer with a mouse, 26 out of 50 patients refused, while 61 out of 62 agreed to use a hand-held pen computer.