Approach
We approached our design with two distinct thoughts, who are the users and how will they interact with this system?
The users
We were anticipating a broad set of users, essentially anyone staying at a hospital for two or more days. We anticipated several possible scenarios where our system could greatly improve the patient’s experience.
Possible scenarios include:
•Listen to what the doctor had to say about recommended actions to hasten the healing process and then send them to your home email address.
•It feels a bit warm in the room; adjust the room temperature to a pleasant 73° F
•Your doctor just prescribed to you some new medications; find out what these new meds do and what effect they have on your body
•Find something to do that will keep you entertained for at least 30 minutes (E.g. games, music, web…)
•Your pillow smells like chicken soup; Call a nurse and ask her for a new pillow.
System Interaction
The other main thing we kept in mind was that the user would have to control this interface from their bed, across the room. So we designed the interface to be controlled by a simple remote or by an optional keyboard (see figure 1).
Figure 1 - Wireless keyboard and remote
We chose a remote because you can control the system without any additional surfaces (like a table for a mouse). The primary controls would be the four directions an enter key and a back button. On the keyboard these would be the arrow keys the return key and the backspace/delete key. The keyboard is not really necessary to control the interface, but we decided to include it as an optional controller because it would be essential for web browsing.
In addition to the remote controller and keyboard, we also designed our screens to be visible from the other side of the room with large fonts and resolutions matching standard TV 4:3 aspect ratio. In our user testing we found the fonts were very visible. The simple easy to use menu also resulted in user satisfaction.
Figure 2 – Transition Diagram
The menu structure is broad and shallow making it easy for users to navigate around. At any point the user can just press the backspace key (or select the back button) to return back to the main menu. This also minimizes the amount of information that the user has to keep in their memory. The following is a list of screenshots and descriptions for each menu item.
Main Screen
Figure 3 - P.I.E. main screen
Figure 2 shows P.I.E.’s main screen. The title would change depending on name of the patient occupying the bed. There are nine different possible selections on this screen. Eight of them take you to the various functions and the ninth gives you some audio help. The user moves the cursor (the little gray box) with the arrows to highlight the item they would like to select then pushes enter to select it. The interface works much the way a DVD menu would, only much faster. The speed helps give the user the feeling that they are in control of the system.
Games
Figure 4 - Games Menu
The Games menu lists the playable games in a list on the left side of the page. Pushing enter with any of those selected moves the cursor to the Launch Application button which when pressed opens the game. Selecting the back arrow takes you back to the main screen. The help, although not implement, would play an audio file explaining how to use the page. Once the user has opened the games they can play to their hearts content, when they’d like to return to P.I.E. they have to push ESC, in a full implementation they’d be able to push the backspace key or select a menu item from the game.
Music
Figure 5 - Music Screen
Although not implemented the music sections gives you an idea of how a music player would be implemented in P.I.E. The controls would be selectable menu items and the play lists would slide out on the right hand side. The user would be able to browse various internet radio stations by genre, or could browse the hospital’s local music library directly. As with all the screens the back button returns to the main menu.
Internet
Figure 6 - Internet Browser
The internet screen is only a screen shot but functionality is easy enough to visualize. Internet functionality would require the use of a keyboard and possibly a mouse. This would be the primary source for the user to get information about the world around him/her. It could be used to read the morning paper or research further about a disease. Unfortunately this screen was not implemented due to its complexity and the project time constraint.
Movies
Figure 7 Movies Screen
The Movies section allows the user to select and watch a movie from the list. In reality these movies would be on a server provided by the hospital and could be accessed at any time by the patients for free. In our prototype it only play’s trailers. Once the movies are playing the user can fast-forward by pressing the right arrow rewind by pressing the left arrow and return to this screen by pressing the backspace key.
Figure 8 - Movie Playing
Dr.’s Orders
Figure 9 - Dr.'s Orders
On the Dr.’s Orders screen the patient has access to any information their doctors have told them; including a voice recording of their previous visit. When the doctor is selected from the list on the left their picture shows underneath, this can be very helpful to patients with multiple doctors. The text and voice recording, accessible by pressing the enter key, help reduce the memory load on the patient while in the hospital. They no longer have to stress out over trying to remember what the Doctor said the last time they visited, they can simply access it at any time.
Medical Condition/ Information
Figure 10 - Medical Condition/Information Screen
On this screen the patient would be able to read information on the condition they are being treated for as well as the medication used in the treatment. This allows the patients to get a better idea what the doctors have prescribed and why. Also accessible from this screen, but not implemented in our prototype, is a search, which would require the keyboard for input, that allows the patient to search hospital’s entire medication and condition database.
Room Controls
Figure 11 - Room Controls Screen
This screen allows the patient to control the lights, adjust the room’s thermostat, adjust the bed, and call the nurse. None of these functions are implemented in our prototype, but you get the sense of the possible scope of P.I.E. A patient could control their entire environment with their thumb! The depth of control possible through this screen gives the user a strong sense of control.
Walkthrough
Figure 12 - Walkthrough
This screen gives the user a video walkthrough of the P.I.E. interface with a commentary to guide them along. Like all the other screens the walk through can be exited by pressing backspace or navigating to the back button.