A Deliberate and Rigorous Approach to Development of Patient-Centered Technologies

ObjectivesMany technologies intended for patient use are never developed or evaluated with principles of user-centered design. In this review, we explore different approaches to assessing usability and acceptability, drawn from selected exemplar studies in the health sciences literature.Data SourcesPeer-reviewed research manuscripts were selected from Medline and other data sources accessible through pubmed.gov. We also present a framework for developing patient-centered technologies that we recently employed.ConclusionWhile there are studies using principles of user-centered design, many more do not report formative usability testing results and may only report post-hoc satisfaction surveys. Consequently, adoption by user groups may be limited.Implications for Nursing PracticeWe encourage nurses in practice to look for and examine usability testing results before considering implementation of any patient-centered technology.