Design and usability evaluation of display interface elements for centralized monitoring system based on eye tracking

Abstract Background: The accuracy of information recognition in centralized monitoring system interfaces can affect the efficiency of medical information transmission and decision-making, which can impact the health of patients. The purpose of this study was to design the display interface elements of a centralized monitoring system based on ergonomic principles and to assess the usability of different monitors based on attention capture to provide a basis for the optimization of display interfaces of future centralized monitoring systems. Methods: Study 1 was conducted to design the interface elements of the centralized monitoring system according to the principles of ergonomics. Studies 2 and 3 utilized a visual search experimental paradigm to evaluate usability. Both studies utilized single-factor, four-level, within-subjects designs. Three of the interfaces were three existing mainstream centralized monitoring system display interfaces, while Interface 4 was a display interface designed based on the principles of ergonomics. A snowballing approach was used to recruit 50 subjects in January 2023: 20 for Study 2 (comparing accuracy and reaction time) and 30 for Study 3 (comparing eye-movement metrics). All subjects provided subjective ratings on the four interfaces. Results: (1) Interface 1, Interface 3 and Interface 4 outperformed Interface 2 in terms of correct rate of heart rate entry task, blood oxygen saturation, and response time of body temperature entry task; (2) Total fixation time in the region of interest was less for Interface 4 than for the other three interfaces; (3) The number of region of interest fixation points was lower for Interface 3 and Interface 4 than for the other two interfaces; (4) The first fixation time of the region of interest for Interface 2 and Interface 4 is less than the other two interfaces; (5) The average pupil diameter of the region of interest for Interface 4 was lower than that for Interface 2; (6) Subjective selection of the interface most favorable for information acquisition: Interface 4 (46%) > Interface 1 (32%) > Interface 2 (18%) > Interface 3 (4%). Conclusions: The results of this study demonstrated that a central monitoring system display interface based on ergonomic principles outperformed the three existing display interfaces. Based on these findings, a final optimization scheme of the central monitoring system display interface element design is proposed.