Usablity Lab Tour
Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Mirror
At CHI-2014 toured a usability lab nested in Toronto General Hospital. The event was posted on an events section page nested in the CHI event website and one afternoon two weeks before the event I was granted an invite to join a demonstration and group tour. After months of learning usability methods and practicing with activities it was nice to finally experience a built environment dedicated to an important part of product development cycle.
This was my first visit to a usability lab. And following a short cab ride to the location I was directed to a seemingly deep and dark corner of the hospital. “Take three lefts and go up the blue elevators” the greeting staff told me. Side note: regardless of the social/private status of a healthcare system the ‘factories’ seem to be the same. The facility seemed to be smack dab in the middle of two hospital wings, with seemingly no shortage of space and an abudnce of natural light. The catering staff handed me a beverage and off I went into the ‘operating room’/’hospital room’ testing area.
The need for such a space was soon apparent. The staff played a medical device/EMR blooper reel filled with follies, cursing, and failed tests. Technology, they said, it just a tool and humans often get in the way of allowing it to most effective. This theory was then demonstrated with a visitor attempting to operate a ‘simple’ dialysis machine. He failed. Miserably. Healthcare is late to adopt human-centered design and this facility aims to create a better balance.
Following the overview I spent 15 speaking with various staff members about the facility, the organizational goals and the methods used to test products. The rooms were filled with research, post-its, diagrams and everything else you might expect to find in a design studio. Essential this place is an in-house studio for TGH.
SUMMARY
Why the hell doesn’t one of these exist in Seattle??!