Usability Factors Assessment in Health Information System

Abstract

Systems’ usability is one of the critical attribute of any system’s quality. Medical prac-titioners usually encounter usability difficulties while using a health information system like other systems. There are different usability factors, which are expected to influence systems’ usability. Errors preventions, patient safety and privacy are vital usability factors and should not be ignored while developing a health information system. This study is based on a comprehensive analysis of published academic and industrial literature to provide the current status of health information systems’ usability. It also identifies different usability factors such as privacy, errors, design and efficiency. Usability factors are then assessed. Those factors are further examined through a questionnaire to study the priorities of them from medical practitioners’ point of view in Saudi Arabia. The statistical analysis shows that the privacy and errors are very critical than the other usability factors. The study results further revealed that availability and response time are the main challenges faced by the medical practitioners when using the HIS. However, flexibility and customizability were claimed to ease the use of the HIS. In addition, a number of statistical correlations were established. Overall, the study findings seemed helpful to designers and implementers to consider these factors for successful implementation of HIS.