Episode 28: Human Factors Evaluation of SpectrumCalgary

Human Factors Evaluation of SpectrumCalgary, a Smartphone Application for Antimicrobial Stewardship

In this episode, Critical Care Fellow Paul Campsall and Infectious Disease Fellow Elizabeth Parfitt describe an antimicrobial stewardship smartphone application that they have developed specifically for the Calgary region. When Paul and Lis enrolled in the W21C Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Course in 2013, they chose for their project a human factors evaluation of their app SpectrumCalgary (now known as Firstline). They share with us what they learned and why they believe this type of evaluation is crucial for anyone interested in developing software, particularly smartphone apps.

Paul highlights the importance of usability evaluations when developing software in health care and points out the potential impact on patient safety. Software has the potential to contribute to technology-related errors through content or problems with the interface. If usability is not tested in the formative/development phase, the product may end up being irrelevant, difficult or frustrating to use; and it may not provide the information or support that the developer intends.

Lis and Paul selected two methods of usability evaluation: 1) a human factors expert-based heuristic evaluation; and 2) a target user-based usability test. They say the evaluation helped them to understand ways in which the app could be misleading or could potentially contribute to errors. They learned about “warning fatigue” and some of the challenges of getting users to read warnings and pop-ups. They believe the evaluation has improved the likelihood of uptake of SpectrumCalgary in the real world. Finally, as Lis and Paul anticipate the launch of SpectrumCalgary in summer of 2014, they emphasize that the next phase of the process is feedback from users. They envision the app as a living, evolving tool.

After listening to this podcast, listeners will be able to:
1.  Be aware of the SpectrumCalgary app, how it was developed, the logic behind it, the goals of use, and how it differs from other apps on the market
2.  Understand the area of research called human factors. Learn how human factors testing revealed potential issues with the original design of SpectrumCalgary, and a few           changes made as a result of the testing
3.  Realize the importance of human factors usability testing as a key component in the development process for apps and other software

Acknowledgements 
Lis and Paul would like to acknowledge the many people who contributed to the success of their research project: Margot Harvie and Nishan Sharma, coordinators and educators of the W21C Patient Safety Course; Jonas Schultz, project mentor and Human Factors Lead at the Health Quality Council of Alberta; Greg Hallihan and the W21C team who served as expert reviewers for the heuristic analysis; the content development team; and the software developers.

Paul Campsall
Paul is a Critical Care Medicine fellow at the University of Calgary and recently took the W21C Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Course. Paul’s fellowship research interest has been in antimicrobial stewardship in the ICU, and development of SpectrumCalgary for this purpose. Later this year, Paul will be moving to Kamloops, BC, to work as an intensivist and general internist.

Elizabeth Parfitt
Elizabeth is an Infectious Disease fellow at the University of Calgary and is due to finish in December 2014. Antimicrobial stewardship is her main area of interest within the discipline of infectious disease. In 2012, while at an Infectious Disease conference, Elizabeth conceived the idea for an antimicrobial stewardship app, and supported by a grant from the Alberta Sepsis Network, SpectrumCalgary was developed. Elizabeth will be moving to Kamloops, BC, to work in Infectious Disease and General Internal Medicine.

Read More:
For more information on the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Course, offered through W21C, HQCA and Continuing Medical Education at the University of Calgary, click here
To visit the SpectrumCalgary website (now Firstline), click here