Developing a Native Model for Evaluating the Usability of Health Information Systems Through Heuristic Evaluation Technique

A quality criterion for evaluating information systems (ISs) is their usability, which can be determined by examining the user interface. User interface issues may generate user errors, dissatisfaction, and inefficiency, making IS adoption difficult. Therefore, the International Standard Organization recommends usability testing to evaluate IS acceptability and deployment. So, this study aimed to develop a native model for the usability testing of hospital information systems (HISs) via heuristic evaluation (HE).

This multi-staged qualitative study was conducted in 2020; ScienceDirect, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Civilica, and Magiran databases were searched. After meeting the inclusion criteria, the articles were scored. Then, the initial model was created in the following stage by extracting data from library sources and validated using the Delphi technique, and consequently, the final model was presented.

: The native model was developed using thirteen principles: 1) visibility of system status, 2) the match between the system and the real world, 3) users’ control and freedom, 4) consistency and standards, 5) error prevention, 6) recognition rather than recall, 7) flexibility and efficiency of use, 8) aesthetic and minimalist design, 9) helping users recognize, diagnose, and recover errors, 10) documentation and help, 11) skill , 12) pleasurable, respectful interaction with users, and 13) privacy protection.

This study demonstrated that localizing the usability evaluation of HISs based on trustworthy sources and HE is a wise strategy, because not only it avoids repetitive processes, but also it uses the best up-to-date resources to enable the presentation of the highest evaluation quality.