Trial reportJournal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA
Usability testing finds problems for novice users of pediatric portals.
Trial report in Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
51 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Enhancing Patient Understanding of Laboratory Test Results: Systematic Review of Presentation Formats and Their Impact on Perception, Decision, Action, and Memory.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Barriers to patient, provider, and caregiver adoption and use of electronic personal health records in chronic care: a systematic review.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2020Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Patient-Facing Visualizations of Personal Health Data.Applied clinical informatics · 2019Pooled it
- Patient and provider attitudes toward the use of patient portals for the management of chronic disease: a systematic review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2015Pooled it
- Patient web portals to improve diabetes outcomes: a systematic review.Current diabetes reports · 2010Pooled it
- Health literacy and task environment influence parents' burden for data entry on child-specific health information: randomized controlled trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2011Trial
- Confronting complexity: toward equitable healthcare technology design and evaluation for socioeconomically marginalized patients.JAMIA open · 2026Article
- Identifying Skill and Usability Barriers to Digital Health Tool Use Among Older Adult Patients in US Safety Net Clinics: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR human factors · 2026Article
- Using user-centered design to better understand challenges faced during genetic analyses by novice genomic researchers.Frontiers in bioinformatics · 2026Article
- Design of patient-facing immunization visualizations affects task performance: an experimental comparison of 4 electronic visualizations.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2024Article
- Usability Testing of Situation Awareness Clinical Decision Support in the Intensive Care Unit.Applied clinical informatics · 2024Article
- Design, Development, and Evaluation of an mHealth App for Reporting of Side Effects During Cytostatic Treatment: Usability Test and Interview Study.JMIR formative research · 2023Article
- Views, Use, and Experiences of Web-Based Access to Pediatric Electronic Health Records for Children, Adolescents, and Parents: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Article
- A Novel Hospital-to-Home System for Children With Medical Complexities: Usability Testing Study.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
- Development of a Patient-Centered Preference Tool for Patients With Hematologic Malignancies: Protocol for a Mixed Methods Study.JMIR research protocols · 2022Article
- Electronic Health Record-Embedded, Behavioral Science-Informed System for Smoking Cessation for the Parents of Pediatric Patients.Applied clinical informatics · 2022Article
- Parent Perceptions of Real-time Access to Their Hospitalized Child's Medical Records Using an Inpatient Portal: A Qualitative Study.Hospital pediatrics · 2019Article
- Care Delivered by Pediatric Surgical Specialties Through Patient Portal Messaging.The Journal of surgical research · 2019Article
- Understanding Secure Messaging in the Inpatient Environment: A New Avenue for Communication and Patient Engagement.Applied clinical informatics · 2018Observational
- Framework for Evaluating and Implementing Inpatient Portals: a Multi-stakeholder Perspective.Journal of medical systems · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivePatient portals may improve pediatric chronic disease outcomes, but few have been rigorously evaluated for usability by parents. Using scenario-based testing with think-aloud protocols, we evaluated the usability of portals for parents of children with cystic fibrosis, diabetes or arthritis. DESIGN Sixteen parents used a prototype and test data to complete 14 tasks followed by a validated satisfaction questionnaire. Three iterations of the prototype were used. MEASUREMENTS: During the usability testing, we measured the time it took participants to complete or give up on each task. Sessions were videotaped and content-analyzed for common themes. Following testing, participants completed the Computer Usability Satisfaction Questionnaire which measured their opinions on the efficiency of the system, its ease of use, and the likeability of the system interface. A 7-point Likert scale was used, with seven indicating the highest possible satisfaction.
resultsMean task completion times ranged from 73 (+/- 61) seconds to locate a document to 431 (+/- 286) seconds to graph laboratory results. Tasks such as graphing, location of data, requesting access, and data interpretation were challenging. Satisfaction was greatest for interface pleasantness (5.9 +/- 0.7) and likeability (5.8 +/- 0.6) and lowest for error messages (2.3 +/- 1.2) and clarity of information (4.2 +/- 1.4). Overall mean satisfaction scores improved between iteration one and three.
conclusionsDespite parental involvement and prior heuristic testing, scenario-based testing demonstrated difficulties in navigation, medical language complexity, error recovery, and provider-based organizational schema. While such usability testing can be expensive, the current study demonstrates that it can assist in making healthcare system interfaces for laypersons more user-friendly and potentially more functional for patients and their families.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.