Abstract
Purpose :
Correct alignment of patients’ eyes is essential for capturing fundus images, but can be a challenge for inexperienced imaging technicians. Most devices overlay guides on a live view of the eye to show target positions along the x-, y-, and z-axes. These guides rely on mental computations on the part of users to convert colors and arrows to manual adjustments of the device.
This study investigated a new alignment feedback mechanism that uses gamified graphics without live images of the eye to provide feedback that requires fewer mental computations, to assess the impact on alignment times and ease-of-use ratings for imaging technicians.
Methods :
Ten participants who are not imaging technicians, and have little to no experience with fundus cameras were asked to capture images on the CLARUS™ 500 (ZEISS, Dublin, CA) using both the commercial user interface (UI) and a modified alignment interface. In each case, participants were asked to capture two widefield (WF) color images of “acceptable” quality (as determined by a study cohort technician with more than 1 year of experience). The average alignment/acquisition times between the two UI conditions were compared using a t-Test. Participants were given 5 minutes of practice before acquiring images with each system, and the order of conditions was reversed for half the participants. Ease-of-Use ratings (5=Very Easy; 1=Very Difficult) were used to quantify perceived ease of use.
Results :
Average alignment time to capture two images of acceptable quality was 74.5 seconds (SD=33.8) using the commercial UI, and 49.8 seconds (SD=20.6) using the gameified UI. These show that the gameified UI resulted in significantly faster acquisition times (T=2.83, p<0.05).
Average Ease-of-Use ratings were 3.1 (SD=1.1) using the commercial UI, and 3.9 (SD=1.0) using the gameified UI. Ease-of-Use ratings between the two UI's were not significantly different.(T = -1.86, p= 0.096).
Conclusions :
An alignment UI design that applies video game elements and neuroergonomic principles to reduce cognitive load during acquisition is shown to speed up acquisition time for new and less-experienced imaging technicians. The practical impact is improved efficiency of fundus imaging workflows.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.