Usability Evaluation of Admission Information Systems in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences Hospitals: A Heuristic Evaluation

The admission department is one of the most important hospital departments, where patients contact with the hospital at first and begin assessing hospital services. An admission information system is a part of the hospital information system (HIS), but various studies show that there are some problems in the designing of information systems. The aim of study was to evaluate the usability of an admission information system as a component of a hospital information system in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences hospitals (HISMUMS). Methods: The study (2016) was conducted to evaluate the usability of admission information systems in HISMUMS by a heuristic evaluation method. Three independent evaluators reviewed admission information system accordance to Nielsen's heuristics for user interface design and determined problem type according to rating rules provided by Tampere units for computer-human interaction (TAUCHI), such as minor problems (problems should be solved, but solving them is not urgent), severe (problems should be solved immediately), improving (if these problems are solved, the system can improve), and technical (capability not designed in system). Results were analyzed with descriptive statistics.