title: Evaluating Usability of Radiology Information Systems in Hospitals of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Radiology information system (RIS) in order to reduce workload and improve the quality of services must be well-designed. Heuristic evaluation is one of the methods that understand usability problems with the least time, cost and resources. The aim of present study is to evaluate the usability of RISs in hospitals.
  
  
  METHODS
  This is a cross-sectional descriptive study (2015) that uses heuristic evaluation method to evaluate the usability of RIS used in 3 hospitals of Tabriz city. The data are collected using a standard checklist based on 13 principles of Nielsen Heuristic evaluation method. Usability of RISs was investigated based on the number of components observed from Nielsen principles and problems of usability based on the number of non-observed components as well as non-existent or unrecognizable components.
  
  
  RESULTS
  by evaluation of RISs in each of the hospitals 1, 2 and 3, total numbers of observed components were obtained as 173, 202 and 196, respectively. It was concluded that the usability of RISs in the studied population, on average and with observing 190 components of the 291 components related to the 13 principles of Nielsen is 65.41 %. Furthermore, problems of usability were obtained as 26.35%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The established and visible nature of some components such as response time of application, visual feedbacks, colors, view and design and arrangement of software objects cause more attention to these components as principal components in designing UI software. Also, incorrect analysis before system design leads to a lack of attention to secondary needs like Help software and security issues.
authors.affiliation: Health information technology department, School of heath management and information sciences, Tabriz University of medical sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Peyman
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rezaei-Hachesu
authors.affiliation: Paramedical faculty, Tabriz University of medical sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Esmaeil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pesianian
authors.affiliation: Paramedical faculty, Tabriz University of medical sciences, Tabriz, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mohammadian
keywords: Heuristic evaluation; Radiology information system; Usability; User interface