Usability Method Exercise

Usability is often used to determine the effectiveness of new  technology, in particular, EHR or EMR systems. Usability is measured by  five key components.

In this assignment, you will evaluate the usability of a personal  Health Record (PHR). Do a search on the internet for a free PHR  application you can measure against the 5 usability components.

Once you have identified an application, register for it (choose one  that is free) and develop a scenario that tests each component of  usability defined below. You will want to focus the scenarios to measure  the usability based on the adult population aged 60-75. You do not need  to report your findings on the scenario; just develop the scenario that  would test each component.

For example: Learnability asks the question, how easy is it for users  to accomplish basic tasks with minimal training on the application? A  scenario that could be used to measure this component is "Without  reading any directions in the application, navigate through the PHR and  find the section pertaining to medications and determine how easy it was  to record medications for your entire family."

Learnability - How easy is it for users to accomplish basic tasks with minimal training on the application?
Efficiency: Once users have learned the application, how quickly can they perform the basic level tasks?
Memorability: When users return to the design after a period of not using it, how easily can they remember how to do the same tasks?
Errors: How easy is it to perform an error, how is  the user notified the action taken was undesirable, and how easy is it  for the user to recover from the error?
Satisfaction: How satisfying is the user experience of the application?

Please Meet Criteria!  

Identify a PHR application

Develop scenarios to test each component of usability

Focus of scenarios are on adult population aged 60-75