Institute of Art Design + Technology Dún Laoghaire
Ireland’s campus for the Creative Industries

Rebecca Lewis 

MSc User Experience Design

My name is Rebecca Lewis and I'm a UX designer / researcher with a background in nursing. I am particularly interested in the UX research process. For my final research project, I focused on a topic close to my heart - student nurses' learning on clinical practice placement and the National Competence Assessment Document (NCAD). Using a participatory design process and inclusive design principles, I designed a mobile app of the NCAD with student nurses and preceptors. I explored the perspectives of Irish student nurses and preceptors on the use of the mobile app prototype & evaluated perceived efficiency, usability and satisfaction, in comparison to the paper NCAD system.


Evaluating the Perspectives of Irish Student Nurses and Preceptors of an ICT System to Support Learning and Assessment in Clinical Practice

The clinical practice placement is an invaluable component of the undergraduate nursing program in shaping future competent and safe nursing professionals. In Ireland, the National Competency Assessment Document (NCAD) is used to plan and assess student nurses’ learning on clinical practice placements. There is scant literature available on the effectiveness of this paper based approach. This research study explored the perspectives of student nurses and preceptors in Ireland on the benefits and limitations of the paper NCAD system, and investigated if a digital NCAD mobile application may offer a more useable, satisfactory and efficient experience. A group of ten participants engaged in usability testing and post-test interviews with a digital mobile NCAD prototype to evaluate its efficiency, usability and user satisfaction. Results indicate that Irish nursing students and preceptors found the digital NCAD to be preferable in all three variables, usability, satisfaction and efficiency. Future research should aim to design and develop a digital mobile NCAD application and conduct a longitudinal, contextual study with Irish student nurses and preceptors to evaluate its effectiveness in practice.