Using Personas and Prototypes to Define Nurses' Requirements for a Novel Patient Monitoring Display
Sven H. Koch, Amanda Sheeren, Nancy Staggers · Studies in health technology and informatics · 2009
Software is often designed based on the designer's mental model rather than the user's. To correct this, we created personas (archetypes) of nurses using observations and semi-structured interviews. We developed and evaluated patient monitoring display prototypes for each persona. Among 11 ICU nurses, we found that the majority of nurses preferred a parsimonious data representation with large numbers and waveforms allowing all relevant data to be visible. Using personas and paper prototypes is an inexpensive and effective way to assess nurses' requirements and design preferences.