A case study on better iconographic design in electronic medical records' user interface.
BACKGROUND
It is a known fact that there is a conflict between what users expect and what user interface designers create in the field of medical informatics along with other fields of interface design.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of the study is to suggest, from the 'design art' perspective, a method for improving the usability of an electronic medical record (EMR) interface. The suggestion is based on the hypothesis that the user interface of an EMR should be iconographic.


METHODS
The proposed three-step method consists of a questionnaire survey on how hospital users perceive concepts/terms that are going to be used in the EMR user interface. Then icons associated with the terms are designed by a designer, following a guideline which is prepared according to the results of the first questionnaire. Finally the icons are asked back to the target group for proof. A case study was conducted with 64 medical staff and 30 professional designers for the first questionnaire, and with 30 medical staff for the second.


RESULTS
In the second questionnaire 7.53 icons out of 10 were matched correctly with a standard deviation of 0.98. Also, all icons except three were matched correctly in at least 83.3% of the forms.


CONCLUSIONS
The proposed new method differs from the majority of previous studies which are based on user requirements by leaning on user experiments instead. The study demonstrated that the user interface of EMRs should be designed according to a guideline that results from a survey on users' experiences on metaphoric perception of the terms.
Tasa
Umut Burcu
UB
Yildiz Technical University, Department of Communication Design, Barbaros Bulvari, Yildiz - Istanbul, Turkey. utasa@yildiz.edu.tr
Ozcan
Oguzhan
O
Yantac
Asim Evren
AE
Unluer
Ayca
A
D001296:Audiovisual Aids; D003196:Computer Graphics; D006751:Hospital Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D012984:Software; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014584:User-Computer Interface