Ergo4workers: Usability Testing of the Second Prototype of an App for the Ergonomic Assessment of Healthcare Professionals

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSD) result from continuous exposure to risk factors associated with the workplace. They affect millions of workers worldwide, including those in the healthcare sector. One of Ergonomics’ concerns is fitting job demands to workers’ capabilities, namely by providing risk assessment methods as tools to support the implementation of preventive strategies for WRMSD. Currently, advanced wearable technology is being used to gather objective exposure measurements in a work context. Ergo4workers (E4W) is a system that includes a smartphone app to integrate data from wearable sensors. It was developed following the User-Centered Design (UCD) iterative process. This approach was adopted to design a useful and usable app that assesses healthcare professionals during their daily activities, namely by providing feedback on the working postures. This paper describes the design cycle’s second iteration. The second prototype was designed according to user requirements, building on an initial prototype’s findings, and was tested by a potential representative user using the Cognitive Walkthrough method. Test results evidenced adequate usability, and the healthcare professional expressed satisfaction regarding the interaction with the app. Furthermore, the new findings are being used to refine the design solution, to be implemented and evaluated in a third UCD cycle iteration.