Usability Evaluation of a Laboratory Information System

Abstract

Introduction: Health information systems (HIS) have the potential to improve the quality of healthcare. Laboratory information systems (LIS) are of widely used ones among them. Despite many benefits of HISs, many studies have indicated problems in user interaction with these systems due to poor design of their interfaces. The present study aimed to evaluate the applicability and usability of LIS. Methods: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study which employed heuristic evaluation method to evaluate the design of LIS used in 60 Iranian hospitals. This study was done from August to November 2012. The system was accessed in Bahonar University Hospital in Kerman, Iran. In this study, the identified applicability and usability problems concerning different parts of LISs (outpatient admission, inpatient admission, sample collection, and test result reporting) were discussed. Data were collected using a standard form designed based on heuristic method. The content validity was confirmed by three medical informatics specialists. Results: This evaluation identified 162 applicability and usability problems. The highest number of problems concerned "flexibility and efficiency of use" and the lowest number concerned heuristic "help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors". Based on different parts of the system, the highest number of problems (n = 51) concerned "outpatient admission" and the lowest ones (n = 29) concerned "sample collection" part. Conclusion: Despite wide usage throughout the country, the design of many existing HISs suffers from usability and applicability problems which diminish the quality of user interaction and subsequently the quality of health care. Consideration of standards and principles for user interface design such as those heuristics used in this study can reduce the number of applicability problems. Keywords: Laboratory Information Systems; Medical Errors; Evaluation; User Interface