Medical Interface Evaluation
St Jude Medical
Lead Researcher
Project Goal:
Provide a clear direction for the design of a mobile phone with the ability to monitor implantable medical devices. Determine whether a touch screen or mechanical keypad is preferred, useable, and adequate, as well as which design elements are most appropriate for the use scenarios and target market.
Research:
To begin the research, ergonomic evaluations were conducted with a variety of mobile phones and interfaces. These evaluations allowed the researchers to identify relevant factors and select six phones for use in the primary research.
The primary research consisted of in-depth interviews and usability tests with implant patients at an observation facility. At the start of each session, participants were questioned about their background in order to gain an understanding of their existing phone habits, familiarity and comfort with technology, as well as collect information on the nature of their health condition.
Following the interviews, participants were asked to perform interaction tasks (e.g. entering text, searching for contacts, and dialing numbers) with each of the six mobile phones. Each task was designed to match a use scenario and consisted of multiple trials to account for learning curves. During the usability tests, the researchers tracked errors, noted any difficulties, and timed each task. After all the tasks were completed the participants were asked to assess their comfort, ease of use, and confidence using the phone.
Participants were then questioned about their overall experiences with the phones and overall likelihood of adoption. An overall phone ranking was also conducted to better understand participant preferences.
Results:
Conducting a statistical analysis of the data provided recommendations on key size and spacing, design, and navigation elements. Working with the manufacturer’s design engineering team, these recommendations were incorporated into a requirements document for the development of the mobile phone.
Along with the design recommendations, user segments were created based on phone use, preference, and technical ability. The segmentations were used to generate profiles of the different user groups and identify barriers to adoption. These profiles helped the design team better understand the user, by challenging preconceived assumptions about the target demographic, as well as help management formulate a marketing strategy for the phone.