Thought Leadership

Accessability (#A11y) and Usability are BFF's

Posted: January 3,2018

We've often blogged about Section 508 compliance as a means to convince very engineering-centric developers to consider their users.

While watching the video feed from the recent ONC annual conference we were very glad to see the closed captions because we were able to watch and understand while multitasking on one of THOSE conference calls that seemed to go on and on forever.

Accessible designs work for everyone - see also Universal Design. Ever use a curb-cut?

An ounce of prevention -- is worth a pound of cure

Posted: January 3,2018

Residents in the commonwealth of Virginia must take their car for a “safety inspection” each year. The test criteria is published by the state and it is fairly easy to determine in advance if your car is going to pass the inspection. Before you take your car for inspection, first you make sure that all lights are functional, the tires all have proper tread, the windshield wipers are working, etc. If you find anything, you make a small fix BEFORE going to the inspection station and will save the hassle of dealing with a failed test. An ounce of prevention.

Safe HealthIT SAVES LIVES!

Posted: October 9,2017

Many EHRs really do suck, as ZDoggMD described in his very popular parody video 'EHR state of Mind'. But without some nudge towards an improved user experience many of the "less than optimal" EHRs will only get worse as they grow and Engineering-centric developers add more and more features on top of a poorly designed information architecture.

Vehicles are not allowed to be sold in the USA unless they have meet strict safety standards, why isn't this the same for EHRs?

Don't like 30 clicks to order Ambien? How about 50!

Disable; Hide, or Grey Out?

Posted: April 26,2017

While working on a UX strategy for a large enterprise data portal, we recently had an interested conversation with some developers around, based upon permissions, when to show things, when to hide things and when to show things as disabled or “greyed out.”

Design for the users--not the requirements

Posted: April 23,2017

Quick thought:

Use the persona’s to create realistic use cases based upon the real user's needs that you understand based upon your research. Usability people often call these use cases “user journey maps.”

Now, when you design your app, website or software product to engage the person that has to use it every day-- around their tasks (and not merely to satisfy regulatory requirements) the end users/patients will find the information presented to be easy to understand, useful to them, and they will freely engage with your system.

A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds

Posted: March 12,2017

A Foolish Consistency?

We recently enrolled in a “designer lite” onsite course at leading Business Process Management (BPM) vendor’s location. It had been quite a while since I was a student in such as class--usually I’ve been the one teaching classes. It was nice to be in the passenger seat this time and see via their established curriculum the development environment for their BPM.

EHR usability Gap - Specified Context of Use

Posted: May 16,2016

The efficient and effective use of Electronic Health Records are essential, as these systems are increasingly becoming a central tool for patient care.

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act provided providers with a significant financial incentive to increase the adoption and use of EHRs. EHR vendors were required to conduct and report on a summative usability evaluation of their system as part of the Stage 2 Meaningful Use program (The ONC 2014 Edition Certification) and beyond. However, a recent report funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), identified several “issues” with the certified EHR vendors in the processes, practices and use of standards and best practices with regard to usability and human factors.

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