Part of our larger content plan for the year is to conduct usability testing across our suite of online tools/applications and our network Web site, www.eCommunity.com. The purpose is to get feedback from as many audiences as possible and use that feedback to make our applications and Web site easier to use.

Last week I went to Community Regional Cancer Center on our Community Hospital North campus and met with three patients who worked with our SharingSite application. SharingSite is an online blogging tool for patients, family members or caregivers. The owner of the SharingSite can post updates and upload photos for their invited list of folks to see. It's a convenient way for people who are distributed across the country to get updates on a loved one's care. Lots of new parents have been using SharingSite to share photos of new babies and family.

With the help of our "portable usability lab" (thanks to Brian for helping me with that setup) I videotaped each patient's session and also ran a screencapture program in the background of the computer to record mouse movement, clicks, etc.

Overall patients praised the concept of SharingSite as a mechanism for sharing information about patient progress or medical conditions and procedures. There were also usability issues that I will take back to the team with recommendations for fixes. It is a real eye-opener to watch users who are self-proclaimed computer novices and in an older age group work with an application like SharingSite. This experience encourages me to think about better ways to design our tools for seniors in particular.

Thank you to the patients, Community Regional Cancer Center, and my team who helped this project happen!

Interested in participating in a usability session for Community Health Network? Please leave me a comment if you are interested in participating in a usability session for one of our applications. A typical session takes about an hour and participants are compensated with a gift card.