Barriers and Enablers to the Implementation of Intelligent Guidance Systems for Patients in Chinese Tertiary Transfer Hospitals: Usability Evaluation

Abstract

Since the early 2000s, information systems have been widely employed across hospitals in China, changing the way in which processes are managed, improving customer satisfaction and strengthening business competence. Intelligent Guidance Systems for Patients (IGSP), which resemble humanoid characteristics using Artificial Intelligence (AI), assist patients in wayfinding, obtaining medical guidance, consultations, and other medical services, and can improve user experiences before, during and after hospital visits. However, despite their widespread adoption, usability studies on such systems are scarce. To date, there is no practical or standardized measurement for system usability, leading to difficult inspection, maintenance and servicing processes. This study aims to determine the usability deficiency of IGSP and understand how various factors influence user satisfaction during their use. We employ the requirements set out in the ISO9241-11:2018 standard, using two inspection methods with 3 experts and 346 valid end-users. First, a Heuristic evaluation method was employed to detect usability problems and to demonstrate violations of Nielsen's 10 heuristic principles. Second, a System Usability Scale (SUS) was applied to evaluate participants' satisfaction towards IGSP.Finally, analysis of variance tests and a multiple linear regression analysis was performed to establish correlations between user satisfaction and characteristics.

A Preliminary Study on the Abnormal Deaths and Work Burden of Chinese Physicians: A Mixed Method Analysis and Implications for Smart Hospital Management

“…From the perspective of patients, through “smart services,” indirect medical services such as registration, charging, examination, inspection, admission, and discharge are streamlined for patients. For example, through mHealth, telemedicine and health kiosks technologies, patient self-service functions such as appointment registration, various report queries, off-site admission, and discharge payment can be developed ( 60 ), providing patients with more convenient, simple, and considerate medical services, improving the patient's medical experience, and reducing the effort of medical staff. From the perspective of hospital management, through “smart management,” non-patient-oriented transactional operations are reduced for physicians, including the operation of various equipment and facilities, drug consumables application, scientific research, and teaching management, and physicians are returned to patients.…”