Designing A Radiolo ~ y Workstation : A Focus on N avigatlon During the Interpretation Task TR 89 - 040 December , 1989

The potential cost and logistic improvements of PACS (Picture Archive and Communication System) over film-based medical image management awaits the development of viable radiology workstations (RWS) targeted for the primary interpretation task. While the quality of electronically displayed images has been highly investigated, only recently has design and experimental work been devoted to the other critical aspect of RWS design, mainly its computer human interaction, and in particular, its navigation. By RWS navigation we include its underlying mental model or metaphor, and the commands and hand motions used to access patient folders and to display images. For the last five years, the University of North Carolina Medical Image Display Research Group has • analyzed the primary interpretation task and designed, developed, and evaluated the FilmPlane series of radiology workstation prototypes. This work has helped us understand both radiology workstation requirements and viable design approaches. In this paper, we describe the issues and problems with RWS navigation and present the objectives and design of FilmPlane2 as well as our human computer interaction strategy. We also detail three rapid evaluation techniques for quickly gaining feedback on a design. These techniques may aid other radiology workstation designers.