Evaluating a Hospital Smart Notification System in a Simulated Environment: The Method.

The call light system is a central communication technology linking care providers and patients. Call light systems in hospital settings help reduce the likelihood and severity of adverse events and ambulatory conditions by allowing nurses to quickly respond to patient needs. However, the call light system was found to be associated with major challenges and usability issues that negatively impacted patients’ safety and quality of care. This study aims at evaluating the effectiveness of a high-fidelity prototype of a previously designed smart communication system in a simulated environment. College students were invited to mimic the role of patients, and nursing students were invited to perform routine tasks using a traditional call light system and the smart system. Participants were instructed to perform routine tasks using pre-designed scenarios in a simulated environment using the traditional call light system and the smart system. Results show that the smart system reduced the overall response time by more than 50%.