Usability of a CKD Educational Website Targeted to Patients and Their Family Members

Abstract

SummaryBackground and objectives Web-based technology is critical to the future of healthcare. As part of the Safe Kidney Care cohort study evaluating patient safety in CKD, this study determined how effectively a representative sample of patients with CKD or family members could interpret and use the Safe Kidney Care website (www. safekidneycare.org), an informational website on safety in CKD.Design, setting, participants, & measurements Between November of 2011 and January of 2012, persons with CKD or their family members underwent formal usability testing administered by a single interviewer with a second recording observer. Each participant was independently provided a list of 21 tasks to complete, with each task rated as either easily completed/noncritical error or critical error (user cannot complete the task without significant interviewer intervention).Results Twelve participants completed formal usability testing. Median completion time for all tasks was 17.5 minutes (range=10-44 minutes). In total, 10 participants had greater than or equal to one critical error. There were 55 critical errors in 252 tasks (22%), with the highest proportion of critical errors occurring when participants were asked to find information on treatments that may damage kidneys, find the website on the internet, increase font size, and scroll to the bottom of the webpage. Participants were generally satisfied with the content and usability of the website.Conclusions Web-based educational materials for patients with CKD should target a wide range of computer literacy levels and anticipate variability in competency in use of the computer and internet.

User Profiles of a Smartphone Application to Support Drug Adherence — Experiences from the iNephro Project

“…This would promote acceptance and decrease the number of associated transmission errors. Applications will have to be tailored closely to the specific demands of sick individuals to be accepted as part of their often complicated day-to day routines [45], [46]. Not overloading an application with functionality seems vital, when developing for elderly users with chronic conditions.…”

Educational technology for patient with chronic renal disease: integrative review / Tecnologia educativa para paciente com doença renal crônica: revisão integrativa / Tecnología educativa voltada al paciente con enfermedad renal crónica: revisión integradora

“…Um dos objetivos do cuidado na gestão de doenças crônicas é melhorar a comunicação com os pacientes sobre a complexidade de suas doenças, a importância de estilos de vida saudáveis e a adesão aos tratamentos recomendados (13) . As tecnologias de informação e comunicação na saúde têm oferecido novas ferramentas educacionais para facilitar a comunicação sobre essas doenças, e em especial sobre a doença renal crônica.…”

Usability of Mobile Technology to Screen for Drug-Drug Interactions in Kidney Transplant Patients

“…Although participants showed overall satisfaction with using the medication inquiry system via texting to find information about potentially harmful medications, there was a wide range of competency among participants in using electronic devices [4,5]. Our literature review indicated that studies targeting kidney transplant patients regarding the use of technology for the self-management of their chronic health condition were limited in size and number [12].…”

“…The test materials including the electronic application used in the present study were adapted from the applications used in the Safe Kidney Care™ cohort study (clinicaltrials.gov NCT 01407367) at the University of Maryland School of Medicine [4,5]. All study documents were based on guidelines from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) [6].…”