Satisfaction evaluation of health professionals in the usability of software for monitoring the tuberculosis treatment

Abstract The evaluation of health software from the point of view of the health professionals is critical for its success. The work aims to present one of the steps, in this case the usability evaluation, of a more comprehensive protocol of how health software can be evaluated. A software for monitoring tuberculosis treatment (SISTB) was used to test the proposed protocol. The Computer System Usability Questionnaire was the instrument chosen to evaluate software usability. Its adaptation to Portuguese (from Brazil) was performed through three pretests, which obtained high internal consistency, using the Cronbach alpha reliability analysis. SISTB was deployed in three of four referral outpatient clinics for tuberculosis, in the city of Ribeirao Preto, state of Sao Paulo, Brazil. After three months, health professionals answered the questionnaire. All outpatients presented satisfactory results for usability, showing that the satisfaction degree with software is good and that three months are sufficient for adaptation in relation to the SISTB use. Despite the good acceptance, some suggestions have been proposed, showing that software should be in constant development to facilitate the service of those who use it.