title: The N-CODES project moves to user testing.
abstract: For a technology to be implemented successfully, it must be thoroughly tested by the stakeholders who will use it in practice. This article reports on the user testing of the Nurse Computer Decision Support working prototype. Ten acute care nurses with varying levels of education and experience participated in the testing. The study's protocol consisted of a series of tasks requiring the participants to use the system while solving patient problems. Both quantitative and qualitative data on usability, ease of navigation, and nurse satisfaction were collected. The nurses ranked usability and ease of navigation highly. Nurses were excited about the system's clinical potential and felt that it would be useful to all practitioners regardless of experience. Testing the system in an actual clinical setting is the next step, but it is clear that the system has extraordinary potential to improve clinical decision making and patient outcomes.
authors.affiliation: College of Nursing, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, North Dartmouth, 02747, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.forename: Mary-Elizabeth
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Sosa
authors.forename: Eileen S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: O'Neill
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease / Q000451:nursing; D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D003200:Computer User Training; D034201:Computers, Handheld; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004014:Dictionaries as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D048108:Nursing Informatics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology*; D036301:Qualitative Research; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires