Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42370007›Full record

ArticleDigital health

Usability evaluation of an innovative virtual care platform with remote monitoring functionalities for residential aged care homes: A cognitive walkthrough study.

Adeola Bamgboje-Ayodele, Meredith Makeham, Anita Higgins, Sarah Harkin, Pan Teng, Tamasha Jayawardena, Margaret Watkiss, Susan Kurrle, Fiona Robinson, Melissa Baysari

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Digital health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Adeola Bamgboje-AyodeleDigital Health Human Factors Research Group, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5629-1236
Meredith MakehamCommunity and Primary Health Care, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Anita HigginsDigital Health Human Factors Research Group, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Sarah HarkinClinical Skills and Simulation Education, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Pan TengSydney North Health Network, New South Wales, Australia.
Tamasha JayawardenaDigital Health Human Factors Research Group, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Margaret WatkissTwilight Aged Care, New South Wales, Australia.
Susan KurrleNorthern Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Fiona RobinsonGeneral Practice Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Melissa BaysariDigital Health Human Factors Research Group, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Virtual care (VC) can improve timely access to general practitioners (GPs) for residents in residential aged care homes (RACHs). However, despite rapid implementation, little empirical work has examined the learnability and task-level usability of these systems in aged care settings, where staff operate under time pressure and residents often have complex needs. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the usability of a virtual care platform used to connect residents in RACHs with GPs, using a cognitive walkthrough (CW) approach to examine system learnability and safety-critical task performance within GP and nursing workflows. Methods: Together with a doctor, nurse and an older adult advisor, two human factors experts walked through 10 clinician tasks (GP=4, nurse=6) and 44 subtasks (GP=13, nurse=31) using the VC technologies, and identified problems, directed by four established CW prompts. Using the problems list, we rated problem severity based on clinician workflow prior to descriptive analysis. Results: A total of 45 usability problems were identified, over half affecting task learnability. Most learnability problems occurred during nursing tasks associated with vital-sign capture, where required actions and system feedback were frequently unclear to users. Several problems were rated as major or catastrophic, with implications for nursing workflow reliability, task interruption and patient safety. Additional issues related to inadequate error prevention and recovery by design. Conclusion: This study provides one of the first applications of cognitive walkthrough to evaluate a virtual care platform in a residential aged care context. By revealing safety-critical learnability and error-prone design issues that are often missed by satisfaction-based evaluations, the findings demonstrate the value of task-level usability assessment for supporting safe and effective virtual care delivery in aged care settings. This research has implications for improving user experience, preventing unintended consequences, and enhancing the quality-of-care delivery.

Indexed as

cognitive walkthroughlearnabilityusability evaluationvirtual care

Identifiers

PMID42370007
PMCPMC13305877

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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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.