Abstract
BackgroundMajor postoperative morbidity and mortality remain common despite efforts to improve patient outcomes. Health information technologies have the potential to actualize advances in perioperative patient care, but failure to evaluate the usability of these technologies may hinder their implementation and acceptance. This protocol describes the usability testing of an innovative telemedicine-based intra-operative clinical support system, the Anesthesiology Control Tower, in which a team led by an attending anesthesiologist will use a combination of established and novel information technologies to provide evidence-based support to their colleagues in the operating room.MethodsTwo phases of mixed-methods usability testing will be conducted in an iterative manner and will evaluate both the individual components of the Anesthesiology Control Tower and their integration as a whole. Phase I testing will employ two separate “think-aloud” protocol analyses with the two groups of end users. Segments will be coded and analyzed for usability issues. Phase II will involve a qualitative and quantitative in situ usability and feasibility analysis. Results from each phase will inform the revision and improvement of the Control Tower prototype throughout our testing and analysis process. The final prototype will be evaluated in the form of a pragmatic randomized controlled clinical trial.DiscussionThe Anesthesiology Control Tower has the potential to revolutionize the standard of care for perioperative medicine. Through the thorough and iterative usability testing process described in this protocol, we will maximize the usefulness of this novel technology for our clinicians, thus improving our ability to implement this innovation into the model of care for perioperative medicine.Trial registrationThe study that this protocol describes has been registered in clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02830126.
Highlights
Major postoperative morbidity and mortality remain common despite efforts to improve patient outcomes
The primary objective of the protocol described in this paper is to evaluate the usability of the Anesthesiology Control Tower (ACT) by gathering perceptions of key stakeholders and end users of the ACT and secondarily to assess the feasibility of its implementation in routine care, prior to conducting a pragmatic trial evaluating the ACT
Usability testing will be performed in an iterative manner throughout the design and implementation stages and will focus on outcomes related to effectiveness, efficiency, and acceptability
Summary
The full description of ACT is available in Appendix 1. Phase I: usability analysis with a “think-aloud” protocol Phase Ia Participants will be recruited via email from the groups of clinicians who would potentially staff the ACT (ACTors), namely, attending anesthesiologists and senior anesthesiology residents. Phase II: in situ usability and feasibility testing Participants Participants will include groups of clinicians who would be eligible to staff the ACT (ACTors), namely attending anesthesiologists and anesthesiology residents, who will be recruited via email. ACTors will have the opportunity to provide written feedback on a daily basis Data analysis This phase of in situ testing will allow us to further evaluate the usability of the ACT and the feasibility of implementation. Changes to the ACT based on information obtained throughout this phase, including the revision of AW alerts, will be made based on the judgment of the investigative team
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