The User Interface for a Computerized Patient Record System for Primary Health Care in a Third World Environment

Abstract

The manual paper-based system for keeping track of patient history was replaced with a computerized system in a Primary Health Care clinic in a traditionally Black urban area. Several factors influenced the design of the user-interface. Aspects such as screen layout, data fields to be captured, mouse dependency, computer literacy of the users and adapting the system to the normal daily routine of users were considered. The study showed that special attention should be devoted to the design of the user interface for systems used primarily by third world users who do not want the computer to interfere or hinder them in their daily jobs.