Evaluation of a multi-professional therapy and monitoring system in acute geriatric care: a mixed methods study

Abstract Purpose This study evaluated the usability of a multi-professional Therapy and Monitoring System (TMS) in three Austrian hospitals using quantitative and qualitative user feedback. The aim was to determine a standardized System Usability Scale (SUS) score, assess perceived usability of core functionalities, and examine user experiences across professional groups, including reported benefits and remaining challenges. Methods A convergent mixed-methods design was used. Quantitative data were collected through an online questionnaire including the SUS and additional Likert-scale items assessing core functionalities. Qualitative data were gathered through open-ended questions and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Findings were integrated at the interpretation stage to identify areas of convergence and divergence. Results A total of 61 survey responses were obtained from three Austrian hospitals across multiple professional groups. The mean SUS score was 68.53 (standard deviation 13.93), close to the benchmark of 68, with descriptive variation across professional groups. Features supporting multi-professional work, including annotations, team-meeting support, patient overview, and task tracking, were rated most positively. Reported benefits included improved multi-professional communication, enhanced patient overview, and better support for collaboration. Major challenges included double documentation, missing system integration, usability difficulties during initial use, and inconsistent implementation and training. Conclusions The system supports multi-professional collaboration and provides a clear patient overview. Moderate usability ratings mainly reflected interoperability gaps and variable training rather than the system’s core design.