Research Paper on the Relation of UI/UX Design and Data Integrity

Cover of printed research paper
Date:
March 2020 - May 2020
My tasks:
Research, Writing, Analysis, Recommendations, and Solution Proposal
Link:
Parente.Jeff.FinalCapstone.pdf
Category:
Professional Accomplishments

Description

As the conclusion of my graduate studies, I wrote a capstone research paper focusing on the areas I'd studied within Information and Communications Technology.

I had studied and completed two separate concentrations: Web Design and Development, and Information System Security. As a result, I wanted my research to focus on the intersection of these two areas. Thus, I chose to explore the relationship between data integrity and user interface and user experience (UI/UX) design. In addition, I wanted to get beyond academic study, to examine real world case studies.

The paper primarily examines scholarly research on data integrity and UI/UX design. Specifically, electronic medical records are examined as the case study. The process was laborious, but it was extremely valuable to explore the implications and effects of UI/UX design in such a critical application.

The whole process strengthened my opinion that, in order to effectively achieve broader goals (such as the health of medical patients, in this case), system designers and developers must be primarily focused on effectively serving the needs of users. This is true even, and perhaps especially, when the background and knowledge base of those developers and designers is very different from that of the intended users. And bridging that gap in understanding is critical to the reliability of system data.

The full paper comes in at forty-two pages, including references. However, you can get a brief overview from the abstract:

This paper explores the relationship of User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX) design to data integrity in Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems. The topic is approached through examination of: foundational concepts of UI/UX design and data security, history and market drivers of EHRs, and scholarly research on EHR usability and patient safety. The author proposes to improve data integrity in EHR systems through a collaborative effort between EHR vendors, hospitals, and clinicians. The proposal focuses on standardization of EHR system implementation and extensive usability testing with actual medical practitioners for all relevant variations on EHR user roles.