User-centered development of UI elements for selecting items on a digital map designed for heavy rugged tablet PCs in mass casualty incidents

Abstract

In a Mass Casualty Incident (MCI) time and good management are critical. Currently, the first arriving rescue units perform the triage algorithm on paper instead of a mobile device. By using mobile devices, the patients' triage state and position can be instantly shared through a network. We implemented a map application to visualize this data on a rugged tablet PC that is intended to be used by the Ambulant Incident Officer (AIO). Even though, using a mobile device offers more benefits, it also requires some mental efforts from the user. The goal of the SpeedUp project1 is to ensure the speed-up of the rescue process. It is crucial to carefully develop, introduce and evaluate the User Interface (UI) iteratively close to the target group and adapt it to an MCI situation. Thus, multiple UI concepts have been developed to compare, rate and optimize them. This paper represents a follow up study and focuses on approaches to select patients on a digital map displayed on a heavy rugged tablet PC. An evaluation is performed to estimate how intuitive, efficient, and ergonomic the UI is without the need of special training for the target group and to increase the acceptance of new devices.