Usability Study on Patient Monitoring Systems: An Evaluation of a User Interface Based on User Experience and Preference

BACKGROUND: The poor ergonomic design of patient monitoring systems can cause user errors and patient harm. This paper presents the results of a comparative usability study based on user experience and the results of a user preference survey. MATERIAL/METHODS: We conducted a usability study of 3 patient monitoring systems: Mediana M50, Philips IntelliVue MP70, and Philips IntelliVue MX700. Thirty-nine Coronary Care Unit nurses and 19 Pulmonology and Allergy Care Unit nurses participated in this usability study. User experience was assessed with the Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Task Load Index. A user preference survey was conducted to evaluate the subjective medical device design preferences for the M50 system’s user interface. RESULTS: Nurses from the Coronary Care Unit recognized a higher system usability for the MP70 than the M50 (P=0.001) system, and a lower workload for the MP70 compared with the M50 (P=0.005) system. There was no significant (P>0.05) difference in perceived system usability and workload between the M50 and MX700 systems for the nurses from the Pulmonology and Allergy Care Unit. Nurses preferred to activate the arrhythmia alarms except for the ST alarms and missed the beat alarm. They also preferred having a wave freeze function, standby mode, and early warning scoring function, which provides a signal for a patient’s deterioration in health. CONCLUSIONS: The study provides valuable data on a user interface evaluation based on user experience and preference. The outcome of this study will be helpful for designing next-generation patient monitors with improved patient safety.