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Development and Testing of a Usability Checklist for the Evaluation of Control Interfaces of Electrical Medical Beds

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Digital Human Modeling and Applications in Health, Safety, Ergonomics and Risk Management. AI, Product and Service (HCII 2021)

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Abstract

The last few decades have seen the hospital environment become more and more technologically advanced with the development of advanced diagnostic and surgical tools. The beds have also undergone a radical transformation, thanks to the integration of electrical and electronic components, that have allowed the birth of the modern widespread electric beds. This work presents a checklist developed to test the usability of the pushbutton panels that control their movements, which could be useful in designing a controller capable of considering the needs of users such as caregivers and patients. The checklist items were created starting from the usability guidelines and then placed within an appropriate Nielsen heuristic. The tool thus designed was tested in a usability expert evaluation session with five experts. The data collected were the responses to the checklist, the experts’ comments, the notes collected during the procedure, the time to complete, and the severity and frequency of the problems detected. The results showed that the checklist could detect a substantial series of significant usability problems in a short time, which makes it an easily usable tool in the industrial field for rapid and valuable tests for future interfaces design. The usage of this developed checklist could be useful to design better control panels to facilitate both caregivers’ work and patients’ stay.

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Acknowledgment

The research project was partially supported by Malvestio Spa.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, via Venezia 8, 31121, Padua, Italy

    Davide Bacchin

  2. Human Inspired Technology (HIT) Research Centre, University of Padova, via Luigi Luzzatti 4, 35121, Padua, Italy

    Patrik Pluchino, Valeria Orso & Luciano Gamberini

  3. Malvestio S.p.a., via Marconi 12D, 35010, Villanova di Camposampiero, PD, Italy

    Marcello Sardena & Marino Malvestio

Authors
  1. Davide Bacchin
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  2. Patrik Pluchino
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  3. Valeria Orso
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  4. Marcello Sardena
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  5. Marino Malvestio
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  6. Luciano Gamberini
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Davide Bacchin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Vincent G. Duffy

Appendix

Appendix

The complete list of the Checklist items is provided.

Visibility of system status

  1. 1.

    Pressing a key corresponds to immediate feedback from the push-button panel.

  2. 2.

    If present, the feedback provided is easily identifiable.

  3. 3.

    If present, the feedback provided takes place in multiple ways.

  4. 4.

    When a key is pressed, it provides tactile feedback.

  5. 5.

    It is easy to tell if the push of a button affects the bed.

  6. 6.

    Understanding when the movement has ended is easy.

Match between system and the real world

  1. 7.

    The movements that the bed can make are represented understandably by the buttons on the control panel.

Give the user control with comfort

  1. 8.

    Pushing the buttons does not require excessive physical effort.

  2. 9.

    It is always possible to use the push button panel while remaining in a comfortable position.

  3. 10.

    The push button panel can always be used with one hand.

Consistency and standard

  1. 11.

    The icons used are consistent with each other.

Error prevention

  1. 12.

    A single push of the button is enough to perform the desired movement until it ends.

  2. 13.

    The positioning of the push-button panel prevents accidental actions from being performed.

  3. 14.

    The keys for the safety positions are well identifiable.

  4. 15.

    The buttons are adequately spaced from each other.

  5. 16.

    The buttons have a surface that facilitates pressing.

  6. 17.

    The buttons are clearly visible even in darkness.

  7. 18.

    In case the wrong key is pressed, it is easy to return to the previous position.

Recognition rather than recall

  1. 19.

    The meaning of the icons is intuitive.

  2. 20.

    The icons have understandable symbols.

Flexibility, accessibility, and efficiency of use

  1. 21.

    The push-button panel is easily accessible.

  2. 22.

    The push-button panel is always visible.

  3. 23.

    The push-button panel can be easily grasped with both hands.

  4. 24.

    The travel of the buttons, i.e., the space between pressing the button and its activation, is adequate.

  5. 25.

    The height of the buttons is adequate.

  6. 26.

    The icons have both graphic and textual elements where needed.

Aesthetic and minimalist design

  1. 27.

    The icons used are aesthetically pleasing.

  2. 28.

    The icons used are large enough.

  3. 29.

    The materials used for the buttons are pleasant to the touch.

  4. 30.

    The materials used for the buttons are aesthetically pleasing.

Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors

  1. 31.

    It is easy to understand when the hand control is locked.

  2. 32.

    It is easy to understand when the hand control is off.

Help and documentation 

  1. 33.

    The documentation material is easily understandable.

  2. 34.

    The documentation material is necessary for the use of the bed control panel.

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Bacchin, D., Pluchino, P., Orso, V., Sardena, M., Malvestio, M., Gamberini, L. (2021). Development and Testing of a Usability Checklist for the Evaluation of Control Interfaces of Electrical Medical Beds. In: Duffy, V.G. (eds) Digital Human Modeling and Applications in Health, Safety, Ergonomics and Risk Management. AI, Product and Service. HCII 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12778. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77820-0_1

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