Infobuttons: A Study of Usability

Studies of clinician's information needs while treating patients have shown that the resolution of these needs is often deferred or fails, which may lead to medical errors. The Infobutton Manager was developed to help improve the resolution of information needs by providing users with links to on-line health information resources. The aim of this study was to determine the usability of the Infobutton interface to resolve clinicians' information needs. We provided clinicians with typical case scenarios using a computerized order entry system (CPOE) and Infobuttons and asked them to verbalize their thought processes as they were using the CPOE. We video-recorded the computer screens as the users worked, conducted brief exit interviews, and analyzed these data. Results indicated that the participants found the resources provided by Infobutton helpful and easy to use.