Low-Cost Rapid Usability Testing for health information systems: is it worth the effort?

Usability testing is a step of the usability engineering process that focuses on analyzing and improving user interactions with computer systems. This study was designed to determine if an approach known as Low-Cost Rapid Usability Testing can be introduced as a standard part of the system development lifecycle (SDLC) for health information syste ms in a cost effective manner by completing a full cost-benefit analysis of this testing technique. It was found that by introducing this technique into the system development lifecycle to allow for earlier detection of errors in a health information syste m it is possible for a health organization to achieve an estimated 36.5% to 78.5% cost savings compared to the impact of errors going undetected and potentially causing a technology-induced error. Overall it was found that Low-Cost Rapid Usability Testing can be implemented in a cost effective manner to develop health information systems, and computer systems in general, which will have a lower incidence of technology-induced errors.