FEeSU - A Framework for Evaluating eHealth Systems Usability: A Case of Tanzania Health Facilities

Abstract

Adopting eHealth systems in the health sector has changed the means of providing health services and increased the quality of service in many countries. The usability of these systems needs to be evaluated from time to time to reduce or completely avoid the possibility of jeopardizing the patients’ data, medication errors, etc. However, the existing frameworks are not country context sensitive since they are designed with the mindset of practices in developed countries. Such developed countries’ contexts have different cultures, resource settings, and levels of computer literacy compared to developing countries such as Tanzania. This paper presents the framework for evaluating eHealth system usability (FEeSU) that is designed with a focus on developing country contexts and tested in Tanzania. Healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, laboratory technologists, and pharmacists, were the main participants in this research to acquire practice-oriented requirements based on their experience, best practices, and healthcare norms. The framework comprises six steps to be followed in the evaluation process. These steps are associated with important components, including usability metrics, stakeholders, usability evaluation methods, and contextual issues necessary for usability evaluation. The proposed usability evaluation framework could be used as guidelines by different e-health system stakeholders when preparing, designing, and performing the evaluation of the usability of a system.

Keywords: Usability metrics, Usability evaluation Contextual issues eHealth systems Framework for usability evaluation FEeSU.

DOI: 10.7176/CEIS/10-1-01

Publication date:September 30^th 2023