The Perceived Ease of Use and Usefulness of Loop: Evaluation and Content Analysis of a Web-Based Clinical Collaboration System

Allison M Kurahashi; Jennifer N Stinson; Margaret van Wyk; Stephanie Luca; Trevor Jamieson; Peter Weinstein; Joseph A Cafazzo; Bhadra Lokuge; Eyal Cohen; Adam Rapoport; Amna Husain

doi:10.2196/humanfactors.7882

The Perceived Ease of Use and Usefulness of Loop: Evaluation and Content Analysis of a Web-Based Clinical Collaboration System

JMIR Hum Factors. 2018 Jan 9;5(1):e2. doi: 10.2196/humanfactors.7882.

Authors

Allison M Kurahashi¹, Jennifer N Stinson^{2

3}, Margaret van Wyk², Stephanie Luca², Trevor Jamieson^{4

5

6}, Peter Weinstein⁷, Joseph A Cafazzo^{7

8

9}, Bhadra Lokuge¹, Eyal Cohen^{2

8

10}, Adam Rapoport^{10

11

12}, Amna Husain^{1

12}

Affiliations

¹ The Temmy Latner Centre for Palliative Care, Sinai Health System, Toronto, ON, Canada.
² Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
³ Lawrence S Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ Division of General Internal Medicine, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁵ Institute for Health System Solutions and Virtual Care, Women's College Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁶ Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁷ Healthcare Human Factors, Techna Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁸ Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁹ Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹⁰ Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹¹ Emily's House Children's Hospice, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹² Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.

Abstract

Background: Patients with complex health care needs require the expertise of many health care providers. Communication, collaboration, and patient-centered care positively impact care quality and patient outcomes. Few technologies exist that facilitate collaboration between providers across settings of care and also engage the patient. We developed a Web-based clinical collaboration system, Loop, to address this gap. The likelihood of a technological system's uptake is associated with its perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. We engaged stakeholders in the conceptualization and development of Loop in an effort to maximize its intuitiveness and utility.

Objective: This study aimed to report end users' perceptions about the ease of use and usefulness of Loop captured during usability tests of Loop.

Methods: Participants represented three user types (patients, caregivers, and health care providers) recruited from three populations (adults with cancer, adolescents and young adults with cancer, and children with medical complexity). We conducted usability testing over three iterative cycles of testing and development in both laboratory-based and off-site environments. We performed a content analysis of usability testing transcripts to summarize and describe participant perceptions about the ease of use and usefulness of Loop.

Results: Participants enjoyed testing Loop and were able to use the core functions-composing, posting, and reading messages-with little difficulty. They had difficulty interpreting certain visual cues and design elements or the purpose of some features. This difficulty negatively impacted perceived ease of use but was primarily limited to auxiliary features. Participants predicted that Loop could improve the efficiency and effectiveness of communication between care team members; however, this perceived usefulness could be compromised by disruptions to personal workflow such as additional time or task requirements.

Conclusions: Loop was perceived to have value as a collaboration system; however, usability testing findings indicate that some design and functional elements need to be addressed to improve ease of use. Additionally, participant concerns highlight the need to consider how a system can be implemented so as to minimize impact on workflow and optimize usefulness.

Keywords: chronic disease; communication; continuity of patient care; health communication; interdisciplinary communication; internet communication tools; inventions; patient care team; patient participation; patient-centered care; usability testing.

©Allison M Kurahashi, Jennifer N Stinson, Margaret van Wyk, Stephanie Luca, Trevor Jamieson, Peter Weinstein, Joseph A Cafazzo, Bhadra Lokuge, Eyal Cohen, Adam Rapoport, Amna Husain. Originally published in JMIR Human Factors (http://humanfactors.jmir.org), 09.01.2018.