An analysis of Usability levels of ventilators during Covid-19: a case study

The aim of this study was to investigate the usability levels of some pulmonary ventilators during emergency pandemic caused by COVID-19 for some hospitals of Tuscany Region. The study involved 30 anesthetists with varying age and experience, 5 hospitals of Tuscany Region and 3 different model of pulmonary ventilators. To quantify the usability levels of medical devices the Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ) was used. The PSSQU was submitted to the operators using the Google Forms platform. This tool allowed us to asses user satisfaction for 4 different dimensions of usability: Overall PSSQU (user satisfaction), system usefulness (SYUSE), information quality (INFOQUAL) and interface quality (INTERQUAL). Overall, the PSSQU subscale scores show a high overall usability. The results indicate a positive reliability of the pulmonary ventilators studied, although for 2 out of 30 subjects surveyed, the PSSQU subscale score is less than 50%. The PSSQU proved to be a replicable tool for the different ventilator models in use in hospitals, and effective for measuring the usability of pulmonary ventilators, including performance, usability problems and user satisfaction. The results, although on average high, highlight the need for doctors to have: clearer and more detailed error messages, more usable and less chaotic graphic user interface (GUI), lighter and more intuitive mechanical ventilators during assembly and disassembly of components.