Feb
08

Visibility

By kconover Posted in Tutorials | Comments Off on Visibility

"Invisible Idiot" Climbing Route

“Out of sight, out of mind.”

Ever heard the one about the early translation program that converted this aphorism into Chinese and then back? It came out as “invisible idiot.” Regardless, “out of sight, out of mind” is a good general psychological principle. In any nuclear power plant control station, air traffic control center, AWACS plane, aircraft cockpit, or any busy and confusing medical setting whether inpatient, outpatient or ED , people need to know what’s going on. It’s called situational awareness, and it is key to avoiding human error. And we need to keep unimportant stuff out of sight, and out of mind, so people can concentrate on what’s important.

But to keep nuclear reactor coolant pumps, aircraft, or patients in people’s minds, we put something in front of them. Even if it’s just a tiny blinking light, a text summary. or an icon of an airplane. That is why there are tracking systems, to which many of the essays on this site are devoted. Read the rest of this entry »

Feb
08

Consistency

By kconover Posted in Tutorials | Comments Off on Consistency

Neatness counts.

Trying to find my way from the entrance of my 12 year old daughter’s bedroom to the bed to kiss her goodnight, especially if barefoot, is considerably more dangerous than most of the search and rescue and disaster operations I’ve been on.

Navigating the screens of medical software often seems like walking in my daughter’s room with the lights out, blindfolded, backwards. I’m sure you can find examples in many medical software applications, and there are many causes for such problems.

But one of the most important is consistency, or rather lack of it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Feb
08

Layers

By kconover Posted in Tutorials | Comments Off on Layers

When using a point-and-click medical charting application (of which there are a zillion, and I think I’ve used maybe a half-zillion) there are many designs, but I’ve recently realized there is a way to divide them into two types. There are one-layer charting apps and two-layer charting apps. I’m not talking about computer layers, I’m talking about conceptual layers.Layers Icon

In a one-conceptual-layer app, you click on a word to instantiate it. For example, if charting about someone’s tonsils, and you click on the word

Tonsillar Exudate

then that means that there is exudate on the tonsils. Conceptually, it’s a one-step process; there is only one layer of cognition needed to check items on the page. You click on the word to validate it. If you click on Tonsillar Exudate, there are tonsillar exudates. Read the rest of this entry »

Feb
08

ALLCAPS

By kconover Posted in Tutorials | Comments Off on ALLCAPS

I was just a few seconds ago scanning a page of possible tests in the program DocuTAP, a list of about fifty items, to enter an order for an EKG. On the list, everything is in ALL CAPS. Even though I knew the approximate location of what I was looking for, it took me a long time to find “EKG.” I think if all the other entries on the page, things likeALLCAPS

CHECK VITAL SIGNS
DISCONTINUE IV THERAPY
EKG
ORTHOSTATIC BP, PULSE
SET UP FOR PELVIC EXAM
AEROSOL TREATMENT, ADDITIONAL

WERE (whoops, sorry, need to hit the CapsLock key) were in Mixed Case, it would have been much easier to find.

Read the rest of this entry »

Feb
04

What’s in a word?

By kconover Posted in Tutorials | Comments Off on What’s in a word?

What’s in a word? That which we call a roseWilliam Shakespeare portrait
By any other name would smell as sweet.
Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)

OK, I cheated. I changed “name” to “word.” It sounded better for the purposes of this essay, which is about the need to choose words carefully. Yes, I changed a word of The Bard’s, and for the worse. So sue me. It makes the point.

This blog is about the usability of medical software. So I am going to offer a real-life example where the choice of a single word can have a major effect on usability. Read the rest of this entry »

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