Holodinsky Jessalyn K, Francis Michael J, Goyal Mayank, Hill Michael D, Kamal Noreen
Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
Front Neurol. 2019 Jun 27;10:694. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00694. eCollection 2019.
Geographic visualizations have been used to understand disease since the nineteenth century. We developed a software that creates simple visualizations which can be used as a decision support tool for pre-hospital acute stroke transportation planning. In this study, we test the usability of this software to improve user experience and assess the interpretability of the visualizations it produces as it relates to planning and optimizing stroke systems of care. Healthcare practitioners and administrators working within the acute stroke system in Alberta, Canada were invited to participate. Participants were randomized to either the geographic visualization or 2-D temporospatial diagrams. Using a standardized script participants were asked to complete tasks and interpret the visualizations produced by the software. The computer screen and audio were recorded. Recordings were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using inductive thematic analyses. The number of errors made and time to task completion were also analyzed. Eighteen participants (8 physicians, 5 healthcare administrators, 3 paramedics, and 2 nurses) were enrolled. Mean age was 41.22 years (SD: 10.55) and 8 participants were female. It took users a mean of 1.59 min (SD: 0.71) to complete all 10 tasks for the geographic visualizations and a mean of 1.08 min (SD: 0.33) to complete all 15 tasks for the 2-D temporospatial diagrams. Map users made a median of 2 errors (IQR: 4), 2-D temporospatial diagram users also made a median of 2 errors (IQR: 1.5). All but one map user correctly interpreted all maps, only three of the eight 2-D temporospatial diagram correctly interpreted all diagrams. In the qualitative analysis three common themes were identified: comments on the user interface, comments on the visualization tool(s), and suggestions for improvement. Most study participants mentioned that the software would be useful in their work. Healthcare professional from several different aspects of stroke care see geographic visualizations in transport decision making to be a useful tool. The software demonstrated high usability. However, several suggestions were made to improve user experience as well as additional features which could be developed and become the subject of future studies.
自19世纪以来，地理可视化就被用于了解疾病情况。我们开发了一款软件，它能创建简单的可视化内容，可作为院前急性中风转运规划的决策支持工具。在本研究中，我们测试了该软件的可用性以改善用户体验，并评估其生成的可视化内容在与规划和优化中风护理系统相关方面的可解释性。邀请了在加拿大艾伯塔省急性中风系统内工作的医疗从业者和管理人员参与。参与者被随机分为地理可视化组或二维时空图组。使用标准化脚本要求参与者完成任务并解读软件生成的可视化内容。对电脑屏幕和音频进行了录制。录制内容逐字转录，并采用归纳主题分析法进行分析。还分析了错误数量和任务完成时间。共招募了18名参与者（8名医生、5名医疗管理人员、3名护理人员和2名护士）。平均年龄为41.22岁（标准差：10.55），8名参与者为女性。用户完成地理可视化的所有10项任务平均用时1.59分钟（标准差：0.71），完成二维时空图的所有15项任务平均用时1.08分钟（标准差：0.33）。地图用户的错误中位数为2（四分位距：4），二维时空图用户的错误中位数也为2（四分位距：1.5）。除一名地图用户外，其他所有地图用户都正确解读了所有地图，二维时空图的8名用户中只有3人正确解读了所有图表。在定性分析中确定了三个共同主题：对用户界面的评论、对可视化工具的评论以及改进建议。大多数研究参与者提到该软件在他们的工作中会很有用。来自中风护理几个不同方面的医疗专业人员认为地理可视化在转运决策中是一个有用的工具。该软件显示出高可用性。然而，也提出了一些改善用户体验的建议以及可以开发的其他功能，这些将成为未来研究的主题。
