Download PDF
Methods Inf Med 2007; 46(04): 416-419
DOI: 10.1160/ME0437
 
Schattauer GmbH

Nursing Information Systems

Applying Usability Testing to Assess the Training Needs for Nursing Students
Y. Qiu
1   Health Informatics Research Centre, Faculty of Informatics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia
,
P. Yu
1   Health Informatics Research Centre, Faculty of Informatics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
20 January 2018 (online)

    Permissions and Reprints

Summary

Objective: In order to ensure the successful implementation of a nursing information system (NIS), nurses and nursing students must be adequately trained. In order to do this effectively, it is essential to understand their training needs. This study focuses on the training needs of nursing students in particular through the identification of the usage problems they encounter. Usability testing, which involves observing users’ interaction with an NIS, overcomes the deficiencies of traditional approaches of training needs analysis such as interviewand survey. The study applied usability test to assess training needs of nursing students to learn to use a specific NIS, the “Care Planning Assessment Tool” (CPAT).

Methods: An experiment in which novice CPAT users were expected to learn to use the software through task-based exploration was conducted. Eight nursing undergraduate students who had never used the software were recruited. Participants’ interactionswith the system were captured by screen capture software. Meanwhile, participants’ “think aloud” verbal expression of their usage problems was audio-taped.

Results: A coding schemewas used in analysing the captured audio and video data. Ten common usage problems were identified. From these problems, three areas of knowledge gap that this cohort of novice users experienced were identified.

Conclusion: The training needs of nursing students learning to use an NIS was conceptualised in a model consisting of three types of knowledge, i.e. computer skills, knowledge about the NIS and knowledge about procedure of nursing documentation. The knowledge gap must be filled in order to ensure effective training.

Keywords

Training needs analysis - nursing students - nursing information systems - usability testing
 

  • References

  • 1 Gosbee J, Ritchie E. Human-Computer Interaction and Medical Software Development. Interactions 1997; 04 (04) 13-8.
    PubMedSearch in Google Scholar
  • 2 Washer P. Barriers to the use of web-based learning in nurse education. Nurse education today 2001; 21: 455-60.
    CrossrefPubMedSearch in Google Scholar
  • 3 Ward JPT, Gordon J, Field MJ, Lehmann HP. Communication and information technology in medical education. The Lancet 2001; 357 9258 792.
    CrossrefPubMedSearch in Google Scholar
  • 4 Kidd MR, McPhee W. The ‘lost generation’: IT education for healthcare professionals. The Medical Journal of Australia 1999; 171.10 (10) 510-1.
    PubMedSearch in Google Scholar
  • 5 Nelson RR, Whitener EM, Philcox HH. The assessment of end-user training needs. Communications of the ACM 1995; 38 (07) 27-39.
    PubMedSearch in Google Scholar
  • 6 Agarwal R, Prasad J, Zanino MC. From needs assessment to outcomes: managing the training of information system professionals. Proceedings of the 1996 ACM SIGCPR/SIGMIS conference on Computer personnel research. Denver, Colorado, United States: ACM; 1996.
    Search in Google Scholar
  • 7 Gupta S, Bostrom RP. End-user training methods: what we know, need to know. Proceedings of the 2006 ACM SIGMIS CPR conference on computer personnel research. Claremont, California, USA: ACM; 2006.
    Search in Google Scholar
  • 8 Howard S. User interface design and HCI: identifying the training needs of practitioners. SIG-CHI bulletin. 1995: 17-22.
    PubMedSearch in Google Scholar
  • 9 O’Brien E, Hall T. Training needs analysis: the first step in authoring e-learning content. 2004 ACM symposium on applied computing. Nicosia, Cyprus: ACM Press; 2004.
    Search in Google Scholar
  • 10 Kushniruk AW, Patel VL. Cognitive and usability engineering methods for the evaluation of clinical information systems. Journal of Biomedical Informatics 2004; 37: 56-76.
    CrossrefPubMedSearch in Google Scholar
  • 11 Kushniruk AW. Evaluation in the design of health information systems: application of approaches emerging from usability engineering. Computers in biology and medicine 2002; 32: 141-9.
    CrossrefPubMedSearch in Google Scholar
  • 12 Simpson M. How usability testing can aid the development of online documentation. Proceedings of the 8th annual international conference on Systems documentation. Little Rock, Arkansas, United States: ACM; 1990.
    Search in Google Scholar
  • 13 Lazonder AW. Exploring novice users’ training needs in searching information on the WWW. Journal of computer assisted learning 2000; 16: 326-35.
    PubMedSearch in Google Scholar
  • 14 Ericsson KA, Simon HA. Protocol analysis: verbal reports as data. Cambridge: Academic Press; 1993.
  • 15 Kushniruk AW. Analysis of complex decision making processes in health care: cognitive approaches to health informatics. J Biomed Inform 2001; 34 (05) 365-76.
    CrossrefPubMedSearch in Google Scholar
  • 16 Coiera E. Guide to health informatics: Arnold. 2003
    PubMedSearch in Google Scholar
  • 17 Sein MK, Bostrom RP, Oflman L. Re-conceptualizing IT training for the workforce of the future. Proceedings of the 1998 ACM SIGCPR conference on Computer personnel research. Boston, Massachusetts, United States: 1998.
    Search in Google Scholar