Date of Award
12-2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Legacy Department
Industrial Engineering
Committee Member
Dr. Anand K. Gramopadhye, Committee Chair
Committee Member
Dr. Kapil Chalil Madathil, Committee Co-Chair
Committee Member
Dr. B. Rae Cho
Abstract
Telemedicine is the process of providing healthcare services when large distances separate the patient and the doctor, with the use of communication technology. Telemedicine serves as a substitute to in-person hospital visits and in large, reduces the need to travel and wait in line to visit the doctor. It is predicted to help the geriatric population in managing their healthcare requirements. In order for telemedicine to effectively help the older population, it is essential to understand their needs and issues in telemedicine systems. A study with 40 participants was conducted to understand the usability issues of telemedicine systems with the geriatric population. Four telemedicine video platforms 1) Doxy.me, 2) Polycom, 3) Vidyo and 4) VSee, were used to understand these issues using a between-subject experimental design. Participants completed a demographic survey, followed by a telemedicine session. This was followed by a retrospective think-aloud discussion session to understand their issues and needs concluding with a post-test survey. This survey included general questions about using the system followed by NASA-TLX workload measure and IBM-Computer System Usability Questionnaire (IBM-CSUQ). Some of the issues identified included lengthy email invitation with multiple web links, application download, registration and issues relating to icons used. A Cognitive Task Analysis (CTA) is a method for understanding the cognitive or mental demands involved in performing a task. A Cognitive Task Analysis was conducted for each platform to help identify potential cognitive issues when interacting with telemedicine systems. These solutions include providing a single necessary link in the email, eliminating the necessity to download and register, and, contrast, placement and appropriate labels for icons. As suggested by the participants, detailed step-wise instructions on navigating through a session will also be provided. Future work in this area would be to develop such a system, which theoretically, will increase the efficiency in using telemedicine systems.
Recommended Citation
Narasimha, Shraddhaa, "Human Factors Considerations in Designing Home-Based Video Telemedicine Systems for the Geriatric Population" (2016). All Theses. 2544.
https://open.clemson.edu/all_theses/2544