A Novel Information Retrieval Tool to Find Hospital Care Team Members: Development and Usability Study

Abstract

BackgroundHospital communication among members of a patient’s care team is a central part of clinical workflow and consumes a large amount of a health care provider’s time. Oftentimes the complexity of hospital care leads to difficulty in finding the appropriate contact, which can lead to inefficiencies and frustration. Squire is a Web-based information retrieval app created to improve the speed and efficiency in reaching the appropriate team member during the care of a hospitalized patient.ObjectiveThe objective of the study was to design and develop Squire and to evaluate the usage, usability, and perceived effect of the app on finding the correct contact within a hospital.MethodsWe used a mixed-methods design using a before-after survey methodology combined with one-on-one interviews to understand the perceived effect of Squire. The study took place at an academic medical center with internal medicine resident physicians. We surveyed residents on demographics, as well as time and efficiency of hospital communication before and after the use of Squire. After using Squire, participants were also asked to evaluate Squire’s Net Promoter Score (NPS). A subset of voluntary participants participated in one-on-one interviews and completed the System Usability Scale (SUS). We performed descriptive statistics on participant characteristics, app usage data, and responses to surveys. Survey results were compared before and after Squire adoption using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test and a general linear model. Interview data were analyzed using content analysis with a qualitative description approach to review and categorize feedback from participants.ResultsThere was a 67.9% (74/109) response rate to the pre-Squire survey and 89.9% (98/109) response rate to the post-Squire survey. At baseline, there was an average of 22.2 (95% CI 18.4-26.0) minutes/day spent searching for the right contact, and this decreased to 16.3 (95% CI 13.9-18.7) minutes/day after Squire was launched (P=.01). There were favorable usability scores, with an average SUS of 84.7, and a marginal NPS of +6.1. Overall, the use of Squire included 22,283 page views, most commonly to contact the admissions office or portable chest x-ray technician. Interviews highlighted common benefits of Squire, including decreased perceived time spent on hold with operators and improvement in connecting with the appropriate contact in specialized, complex departments. Future opportunities were also identified to improve Squire including adding a two-way communication between physician and nursing staff and providing offline access.ConclusionsSquire decreased the perceived time required to find an appropriate contact and had a favorable usability score; however, the NPS was marginal and several opportunities were identified to improve Squire for future use.

An Information Directory App InHouse Call for Streamlining Communication to Optimize Efficiency and Patient Care in a Hospital: Pilot Mixed Methods Design and Utility Study

“…Some attempts have been made to create comprehensive hospital directories, but these systems have not reached mainstream success [ 15 ]. Their limitations include having their contact information crowd-sourced [ 16 ], or their systems were unable to alleviate frustration over finding the appropriate contact [ 17 ]. Studies regarding the usability and impact of other communication systems on clinical practice are limited; however, to our knowledge, this is the first study comparing timed trials of actual providers in their natural work environment.…”

Usability Evaluation for Mobile Health Application: Systematic Literature Review

“…The function of the application [73] ScreenMen Application to improve the taking of health checks in men [74] Squire Application to increase speed and efficiency in reaching the right team members during inpatient care [75] The app for frozen shoulder patients An application to support patients affected by "stage two" stiff shoulder disease. [76] EatWellQ8 Application for diet assessment [77] HealthMindr app…”

“…Translating and validating the SUS questionnaire into Danish (SUS-DK) 4 [52] Develop and validate the new m-Health app usability questionnaire [79] Performa systematic assessment of the 11 mHealth applications to assist in the self-management of T2DM. [82] Develop a comprehensive set of usability guidelines for mHealth applications 2 Compared method/apps [5] Comparing three usability benchmarking instruments 3 [57] Reviewing the usability of the current iPhone operating system (iOS) and Android app's diet tracking, the e tent to which app features align with behavior change constructs [15] Design and evaluate two innovative mobile voice enhancement applications 3 Apps improvement [25] Improve usability and acceptance of system Apps 15 [65] Develop a cancer pain assessment mobile application prototype [37] Develop and evaluate the usability of mobile applications [40] Develop a mobile application for behavior monitoring and test its usability [44] Presenting the development of heuristic evaluation for m-Health (HE4EH) applications [8] Describe the development and usability of mobile applications [48] Develop an image-based smartphone app, SurgCare [49] To develop a medical document monitoring system [15] Design and evaluate two innovative mobile voice enhancement applications [63] Developing mobile applications for public education [66] Describe the development and assess the usefulness of HOCOS [70] Develop, design, and test the acceptability, learning ability, heuristics, and usability of MindClimb [72] Develop a mobile application and e plore the patient's perceived usefulness of the application [74] Design and develop Squire and evaluate the use 4 [22] Evaluation of usability aspects of Swedish PAEHR users 52…”

“…diabetes system [12] Evaluating usability issues [8] Describe the development and usability of mobile applications [50] Measure and compare the usefulness of an online consumer drug information system (OCMIS) [51] Society for Pediatric Anesthesia Pedi Crisis. Mobile Application Development and Usability Testing [53] Assess the usability, perceived usefulness, and acceptability of the m-Rehab system [54] To investigate the usability of an m-Health intervention (LIFE4YOUth) [55] Develop and test the usability of the PL mobile app directory [56] Evaluating the usability of the m-Health P and W applications [58] Determining the use of mobile applications [59] Report usability testing of a Drug Error Reporting Application (MERA) [61] Rate the usability and acceptance of the NoObesity app [62] Assessing the usefulness of swallowing training applications quantitatively and qualitatively [64] Determining the feasibility of commercially available applications [65] Assess user experience [66] Describe the development and assess the usefulness of HOCOS [68] Conduct usability testing studies [69] Explore the usability of the app [70] Develop, design, and test the acceptability, learning ability, heuristics, and usability of MindClimb [71] Evaluating the acceptability and usability of the m-Health system [15] Field user experience testing is carried out [72] develop mobile applications and e plore the patient's perceived usefulness of the application [73] Evaluating the utility and usability of ScreenMen [74] Design and develop Squire and evaluate the use [75] Evaluating the feasibility of a mobile health (m-Health) intervention [78] Evaluating the feasibility and usability of the application [80] Evaluating the formative usability of a three-way digital healthcare system [81] Evaluating the feasibility and usability of the application for albinism selfmanagement…”

“…Determining the number of respondents in usability measurement is very important. [21], [29], [32], [43], [50], [51], [55], [59], [66], [70], [72], [74] Health care professionals [21] doctor (n = 64); [29] [5], [8], [12], [24], [25], [26], [31], [33], [34], [38], [52], [53], [56], [57], [58], [60], [61], [64], [68], [71], [73], [76] General/Public [24] Usability measurements that use a small number of respondents are usually very applicationspecific. Applications like this are usually designed specifically for particular needs and are used for a limited number of people.…”