Usability Evaluation of Care Coordinator Devices

Issue
The objective of this study was to determine which device would be best suited for the needs of Care Coordinators at the Toronto CCAC as they moved to an electronic system. The Care Coordinators’ workflow and working conditions were taken into consideration, specifically:
> All Care Coordinators do a large amount of walking, so it is important to have a device that is as light as possible.
> Some Care Coordinators work in cramped conditions, so the device cannot be bulky
> Some areas where the Care Coordinators work are dimly lit, so the device’s screen must be sufficiently bright

Methods
Heuristic evaluation and usability testing were carried out for the potential devices. The usability testing took place at the various facilities and participants used the different devices to perform actual assessments in their regular work environments. They currently used paper-based forms, so these forms were made into electronic documents for the purposes of this testing. This ensured that there was minimal deviation from the Care Coordinators regular workflow processes, and it allowed them to focus on evaluating the hardware.

Results Both the heuristic evaluation and the usability testing indicated that a combination laptop and tablet PC would be the best device for the needs of the Care Coordinators. The laptop mode was most efficient for data entry, which is the majority of the assessment. The touch screen features are also very efficient for other purposes (e.g. for checkboxes, scrolling, and navigating around the interface). Care Coordinators could use the device comfortably while standing (by using it in tablet mode), and it is easy to take into a patient’s room. The device is light enough to carry throughout the day, and the screen is sufficiently bright.