DORC (Dutch Ophthalmic Research Center)

To keep these innovations on a high level, they’ve joined forces with Noldus IT to set up CERIOS (Center of Expertise, Research and Innovation in Ophthalmic Surgery). In this lab, they are able to test their new products, equipment, and prototypes to make sure surgeons are able to use them in the best possible way.

Importance of usability tests

Usability studies are essential to get a good understanding of what aspects elevate or hinder the performance, whether a new instrument or piece of equipment is easy to use or not, and what features are the most helpful or might cause discomfort.

In the lab, surgeons can be observed real-time while they perform tasks on the newest prototypes in a realistic surgery setup. If designers of these prototypes made wrong assumptions or missed requirements, a usability test is likely to reveal them.

Why Viso fits in the CERIOS lab

Researchers and test facilitators at DORC knew the importance of usability tests and went on a search for a reliable and flexible system for high-quality video and audio recordings of test sessions. Viso was the perfect system to go for from the start – easy to use, flexible, reliable, and secure.

Those were some of the deciding factors for them:

• Viso system enables simultaneous recording of a surgeon interacting with a new product or prototype from multiple different angles. That way, no important interaction goes unnoticed or is missed during the review of a test session.
• When needed, they are able to visualize the image from a microscope in Viso as well, adding another dimension to a complete picture of the test.
• With a simple click of a button, test facilitator can mark the moment when a surgeon makes a usability error, or responds as “confused” to a new feature. Therefore, there is no need to re-watch a complete session to find the most important moments and share them with the team (which saves valuable time).
• Recorded videos are immediately available for playback which allows to evaluate the session directly after finishing it.

Flexible system for versatile usability tests

Due to a flexible and versatile nature of Viso system, any usability test performed in the lab can be recorded, reviewed, and analyzed.

Some of other tests that are being performed in the CERIOS lab are:

• preparation of sterile fields, such as setting up general equipment
• When needed, they are able to visualize the image from a microscope in Viso as well, adding another dimension to a complete picture of the test.
• testing the user interface of surgical systems

By conducting usability studies, DORC continuously subjects its procedures and products to rigorous evaluations.