Various means can be used to gather information about the current state of applications in any given organization. The information gathered is used in the development of better applications or in upgrading existing ones. The following techniques can be used in gathering information about various applications in hospitals.
To begin with, holding of Interviews is one way of gathering information in various departments of a hospital. This can be online interviews, phone interviews or face to face interviews. The interviewer can ask standard set of questions to the workers in various departments of a given medical institution.
Questions about satisfaction gained, difficulties involved when one uses a given application can be included in the interview questions. In addition, semi-structured interviews can be used which involves standard questions with more individualized tailored questions for specific workers to induce them into reasoning (Fossey, Harvey, McDermott & Davidson, 2002).
Questionnaires on the other hand can as well be used to gather useful information in a hospital setting. Hand delivered questionnaires or intranet based questionnaires can be used to find out the current state of applications.
Different questionnaires can also be prepared for workers in various departments. In addition, focus group discussions which involve selected group of respondents can be used in gathering in-depth information about various applications in an organization (Fossey, Harvey, McDermott & Davidson, 2002).
Holding key informant interviews is another effective way of generating information about medical devices used in hospitals. Key informants or experts like human factor engineers can give a review on a given machine. This information can be used to figure out the best way of upgrading a given machine (Fairbanks & Caplan, 2004).
Lastly, one in one usability testing can generate important information for upgrading certain features of an organization. For instance, various machines can be placed in their real working environment then real tasks assigned to them.
This can determine cognitive load and effectiveness of a particular machine and whether it can run for many hours to cater for workers during the day and night. This is an effective way of gathering information about a given machine and other equipment used in hospitals (Fairbanks & Caplan, 2004).
What factors make some organizations unable to upgrade some of their human-computer interaction systems even when they have the best information on how to upgrade them?
Reply to Gary
Gary describes a situation in his organization whereby a new billing system has been introduced which has replaced medical records and route slips with electronic records. Clinicians can use laptops and front office staff can use desktop PC.Moreover, the system allows online training for everyone in the organization.
This is a clear picture of human-computer interaction in today’s world. The organization has upgraded old ways of billing and is now using a new more effective system.
One goal of human-computer interaction systems is to increase production output, save time, money and labour.This is clear in this setting because the system has various interfaces for different people in the hospital which allows everyone involved to work effectively (Rogers, Sharp & Preece, 2002).
Reply to Amanda
Amanda stresses that information gathering is necessary before introduction of any application in any organization. This information can be gathered by several means such as through interviews, better communication and holding various discussions with project managers to find out the currents needs of a given organization.
According to Rogers, Sharp & Preece (2002) one must identify the problems and needs of a particular organization before deciding on the best way to solve them. Gathering information from various sectors of any organization for some time is essential.
Information obtained can be used to figure out the best way of coming up with a system or any application that will increase organization’s production output, save labour and bring prosperity to an organization.
References
Fairbanks, R.J., & Caplan, S. (2004). Poor Interface Design and Lack of Usability Testing Facilitate Medical Error, Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Safety, 30(10), 579-584. Retrieved from: https://www.usabilityassociates.com/
Fossey, E., Harvey, C., McDermott, F. & Davidson, L. (2002), Understanding and evaluating qualitative research. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 36,717–732. Doi: 10.1046/j.1440-1614.2002.01100.x
Rogers, Y., Sharp, H., & Preece, J. (2002). Interaction Design: Beyond Human Computer Interaction. John Wiley and Sons, Inc. United Kingdom.