D1: Tools for Usability and Accessibility Analysis

Short- and Medium-Term Outcomes:

• Created a Mobile Usability Lab that serves as an effective tool for in-depth RERC analysis of the accessibility of targeted medical devices for persons with diverse functional impairments and disabilities.
• Effectively applied the MU-Lab for a range of internal RERC studies and transferred to other groups interested in studying the accessibility and usability of medical instrumentation. Some equpiment evaluated with the MU-Lab includes:
  • Dental chairs, exam table, hospital beds, weight scales (study at Marquette University by Melissa Lemke)
  • Ergometers, blood pressure monitor, SPO2 monitors (study at Marquette University by Sean Campbell)
  • Novel universal ergometer (study at Marquette University by Elizabeth Omiatek)
  • Imaging platforms: X-ray, CT, Fluoroscopy (study at UCSF by UC Ergonomics team)
  • Talking glucometers and syringe loading devices (study by UC Ergonomics team)
  • Pill splitters, pill bottles, pill storage containers (study by UC Ergonomics team)
  • Ambulatory and volumetric infusion pumps (study at Marquette University by Peggy Keane)

Objectives:

The aim of this project was to develop an innovative usability & accessibility analysis tool that could be used for assessing the use of targeted medical instrumentation by subject populations including individuals with a diverse range of disabilities. The MU-Lab is a core technology of the RERC-AMI, and the key "clients" that used this tool are the following projects:

• R2 Usability Analysis
• D2 Development
• R3 Accessibility Measurement
• D3 Emerging & Accessibility Technologies

A unique multi-site team based in both Wisconsin and California worked together to address the need for a mobile, web-based, multi-site data collection and analysis tool. Our deliverable, called the Mobile Usability Lab (or MU-Lab for short), blends our collective expertise in ergonomics, usability engineering, universal design and rehabilitation biomechanics methods.

• Background
• Development Team from Marquette University and University of California Ergonomics Lab
• MU-Lab Hardware and Suitcase
• MU-Lab's Protocol Manager
• MU-Lab Data Analysis Using MVTA
• MU-Lab Manual (RERC-AMI Tech Report TR-001)
• Highlighted Project: Melissa Lemke's MS thesis (2005) on evaluating the MU-Lab and MED-AUDIT assessment tools for biomechanical analyses. [New Note: In 2009, a paper entitled "Removing Barriers to Medical Devices for Users with Impairments" that was based on part of this thesis, authored by Lemke and Winters, received The Most Outstanding Article in 2008 award in the journal Ergonomics in Design from the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.