Usability Survey in Finland
Johanna Kaipio (nee Viitanen), D.Sc.
Postdoc researcher, Strategic Usability Research Group
Aalto University, Finland
Motivation
Do physicians suffer from
poor usability or are they
complaining for nothing?
Study Aims
• Focus: Physicians’
experiences on usability
of their currently used
clinical ICT systems
(particularly EHRs)
– Experienced benefits,
challenges, problems,
reasons for using / not using
the systems
• Usability agenda: From a
single system testing
towards a more holistic
approach on evaluating
usability of clinical ICT
systems from the end-user
viewpoint
eKartta = Survey on implementation and
usage of ICT and eHealth in Finnish
healthcare
• Aims at describing the status and
trends of EHR adoption
• Latest in 2011, earlier ones made
in 2003, 2005 and 2007 (all
nationally)
• Respondents: Healthcare service
providers (organizations): chief
physicians, chief of administration,
IT managers, etc.
More info:
• Hämäläinen P, et al. (2013). eHealth
and eWelfare in Finland. Check point
2011. Available at:
https://www.julkari.fi/bitstream/handle/1
0024/104368/URN_ISBN_978-952245-835-3.pdf?sequence=1
• Winblad I, Reponen J, and Hämäläinen
P. Tieto- ja viestintäteknologian
käyttö terveydenhuollossa vuonna
2011. Juvenes Print Oy – Tampereen
yliopistopaino Oy, Tampere. Available
at: http://www.thl.fi/thlclient/pdfs/825d0af8-f97c-4192-bf5bba5e1bf773aa
• Method: Web-based tailored • Frequency: First in 2010,
usability questionnaire for
will be repeated in 2014
physicians, usability ”themes”: • Sample: Finnish physicians
1) Compatibility between clinical
actively working in patient
ICT systems and physicians’
care
tasks
• Sample size: N= 3,929
1) Key functionalities
(31.3% of all)
2) Efficiency of use
3) Intuitiveness of user interfaces • Analysis: Statistical, crosstabulation analysis
2) ICT support for information
exchange, communication and • Data included in the
collaboration in clinical work
analysis:
3) Interoperability and reliability
of systems
– Background questions
– 32 statements with a fivepoint Likert-scale
– School grades given to EHR
systems
Example of questions (translated from Finnish to English)
Statement
Strongly
agree
Strongly
disagree
Systems help to prevent medication errors.
1
2
3
4
5
Routine tasks can be performed in a straightforward
manner using the EHR system.
1
2
3
4
5
I perceive the arrangements of the fields on-screen
as sensible for the work I do.
1
2
3
4
5
ICT systems support collaboration between
physicians and nurses.
1
2
3
4
5
Patient’s medication list is clearly presented.
1
2
3
4
5
Incorrect functionality has or nearly has caused
serious injury to a patient.
1
2
3
4
5
Delivery of patient information from other healthcare
organisations often takes too long time.
1
2
3
4
5
Usability survey in Finland: Discussion
• The first national usability survey has raised interest and
discussions. Will be repeated in the year 2014.
• Two national surveys (eKartta = implementation and usage +
usability) complement each other well and are supported by
the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health
• Strengths of tailored usability questionnaire
– Focus on usability and user experience
– Fitted to clinical context, domain specific usability themes
– From qualitative approach to quantified attributes of usability
• What kind of impact do the survey results have on decision
making? IT system development? Collaboration between
vendors, end-users and their organizations, researchers?
• In the future: Usability survey for other health professionals?
Hyppönen H., Reponen, J., Lääveri, T., Kaipio, J.
(2013) User Experiences of different
Regional Health Information Exchange
Systems in Finland. International Journal of
Medical Informatics (accepted)
Martikainen, S., Viitanen, J., Korpela, M.,
Lääveri, T. (2012) Physicians’ Experiences
of Participation in Healthcare IT
Development: Willing but not Able.
International Journal of Medical Informatics,
Vol. 81, Is. 2, 98-113.
Viitanen, J., Nieminen, M., Hyppönen, H.,
Lääveri T. (2011) Finnish Physicians’
Experiences with Computer-supported
Patient Information Exchange and
Communication in Clinical Work.
International Journal of Electronic
Healthcare, Vol. 6, Nos 2/3/4, pp. 153-173.
Hyppönen, H., Viitanen, J., Reponen, J., Doupi,
P., Jormanainen, V., Lääveri, T., Vänskä, J.,
Winblad, I., Hämäläinen, P. (2011) Largescale eHealth Systems: Providing
Information to Support Evidence-based
Management. Published in eTELEMED
2011: The Third International Conference on
eHealth, Telemedicine, and Social Medicine.
February 23-28, 2011 - Gosier, Guadeloupe,
France; IARIA 2011, p. 89-95.