Description

This course-long project asks you to identify a workflow process that presently exists, go through the process of re-designing it considering socio-technical aspects and using human factors engineering models. The workflow process you selected in Module 1 will be the focus of your Course Project throughout each module. This is not meant to be a real-life practicum, and I do not expect you to run a real-life project (that will be for your capstone course).  Rather, the expectation is that you develop a project that allows you to go through the workflow process utilizing modeling, and redesigning tools and techniques you will learn throughout the course. The expectation is for you to create this project with real life scenarios in mind and draw from up-to-date literature to create data or other materials you may need. 

Module 4 course project assignment:  Learn more about the user experience through usability testing for your workflow process. Use at least 2 Usability Evaluation Methods to gain an understanding of the user experience as they interact with the health IT application integrated in your workflow process. You will be expected to determine which usability evaluation tools you will use, which parts of your process you are aiming to test , what information you plan to gather through use of each of those tools, and how you plan to administer use of those tools.  Describe why you would find those tools most useful to obtain the information you seek to find, including how you may learn about the development of work arounds that may have occurred in response to a poorly designed or implemented health IT application. Based on the identified tasks of your workflow process, describe how usable the  existing or "as is," technology is to help perform that function. Since you are not actually conducting usability testing, you may add to your explanation by hypothesizing what one finding or other may lead a health IT team to do in response to this finding. 

Select one health IT application that could be part of your process (one that is not already part of that process), and apply and evaluation method to assess its potential usability.  Comment on how the technology adds or detracts from team collaboration, and how it helps support or not support the development of effective teams. Be specific about which team characteristics are improved or worsened.  Describe how health IT developers are able to use  usability and user experience to develop health IT applications that will be adopted by its users.  Finally,  comment on how you think socio-technical influences contribute to usability, such as with cognitive workload, and its influence on health IT adoption.

Helpful Tips to complete your course project assignment:

1. Read EHR Usability Toolkit (ahrq.gov) in your assigned reading

2. What is Usability Testing? https://www.linkedin.com/learning/ux-insights-weekly/what-is-a-usability-test?u=2133849 (Links to an external site.) 

3. What is a Cognitive Walkthrough? https://www.linkedin.com/learning/ux-insights-weekly/what-is-a-cognitive-walkthrough?u=2133849 (Links to an external site.) 

4. What is a satisfaction survey? https://www.linkedin.com/learning/ux-insights-weekly/what-is-a-satisfaction-survey?u=2133849 (Links to an external site.) 

5. Recommend watching a Linkedin Learning video or doing a search for the type of usability testing you want to use for more information on how to conduct that specific type of usability testing.