How Healthcare Professionals Comprehend Process Models - An Empirical Eye Tracking Analysis

Abstract

Digitization is advancing rapidly in many prevalently analogue domains such as healthcare. For the latter domain, the synergies with modern information technologies (IT) have become an integral part regarding communication and collaboration. For this reason, a comprehensible language is of importance in order to allow a frictionless exchange of information between domain experts. The Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) 2.0 represents a promising notation that may be applied as lingua franca. Although the BPMN 2.0 is widespread applied by experts in business and industry, little experience exists how BPMN 2.0 is adopted in healthcare. In order to assess how BPMN 2.0 is deployed in healthcare, we conducted a preliminary eye tracking study, in which n = 16 professionals from healthcare comprehended a particular BPMN 2.0 process model. The results indicate that BPMN 2.0 might be a candidate for a lingua franca to foster the comprehensible exchange of information as well as collaboration between healthcare and IT.

A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study on Process Model Comprehension driven by Eye Tracking and Electrodermal Activity

“…and semantics (e.g., How many persons are involved in the process? ), which were similar to the comprehension questions in the previous study (see (Winter, Bredemeyer, et al, 2021)).…”

“…As a result, a cognitive weight of w 1 = 51 for the dental and w 2 = 49 for the vaccination process model was calculated. As demonstrated in our prior study in the dental appointment (Winter, Bredemeyer, et al, 2021), especially the modeling constructs reflecting decisions, loops, and parallelisms received most attention. Further, the comprehension of atomic elements (e.g., single activities) or the interaction between organizational units did not generate grave challenges.…”

“…• Subprocess: A subprocess is an abstracted process activity consisting of a number of associated activities. Our prior study (see (Winter, Bredemeyer, et al, 2021)) already used the process model documenting the dental appointment, demonstrating that BPMN process models might be promising as a lingua franca . The model presenting the vaccination procedure was created to reflect a similar complexity to the dental appointment.…”

“…In the context of healthcare, it is essential to investigate how related individuals (e.g., physicians and nurses) interpret and comprehend process models. An initial study demonstrated that the modeling notation BPMN 2.0 might constitute an adequate language that can be adopted as a lingua franca (Winter, Bredemeyer, et al, 2021). More specifically, it was shown that process model semantics can be comprehended properly by healthcare professionals when being confronted with BPMN 2.0 process models.…”

“…Our prior research demonstrated that a promising candidate for a lingua franca in this context constitutes the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) 2.0 (Winter, Bredemeyer, et al, 2021). The BPMN 2.0 is a widespread modeling notation that depicts activities, functions, decisions, and resources in terms of visual process models.…”