User Interface Evaluation of Wireless Ultrasound Solution for Point-of-Care Applications

Abstract

Recently, interest in a point-of-care diagnosis using portable ultrasound images that can provide information in real time at the patient's bedside is increasing. Especially, as interest expands to POC applications out-of-hospital emergencies and in-hospital rounds, usability and safety are required, and the application of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs to increase accessibility is also required. This study aims to develop a wireless ultrasound solution that obtains images from wireless ultrasound probes and communicates wirelessly with ultrasound scanners and smart IT devices, and to improve the usability and safety of medical devices through UI evaluation from the initial design stage by applying the Human Factors Engineering Process based on the IEC62366-1 standard. We designed a user interface (UI concept, design sketch) for smart IT devices, wireless ultrasound scanners and probes reflecting user requirements collected from advisory panels of five clinical departments. The UI concept was evaluated through two focus group interviews, and the revised UI concept was additionally evaluated through a survey afterwards. In addition, user preferences of design sketch were surveyed among 22 experts in the echocardiography room and 8 members of the emergency imaging society. User requirements of advisory panel included sterilization possibility, small space occupancy, equipment durability, and smart phone linkage. Through the focus group interviews, opinions were collected on the menu structure, unnecessary functions. In the survey, most of the GUI designs were satisfied except for pictograms and font sizes. In the preference survey, the wireless ultrasound scanner type B with easy access to the operation buttons and the streamline design probe design type B had the highest preference.Through iterative UI evaluation, the user requirements were derived and the user interface was designed reflecting this. Future research should continue the usability engineering process, developing the actual software and performing usability test.