Poster: Comparing usability of a single versus dual interaction metaphor in a multitask healthcare simulation

We present the results of a user study performed within a multitask healthcare simulation, where nurses are required to care for virtual patients within a 3D virtual environment while recording data in a 2D graphical user interface (GUI) based electronic health record system. We evaluated whether a single interaction metaphor of mouse and keyboard for both virtual and GUI sub-systems of our simulation was superior in terms of user preference and performance to a dual interaction metaphor of using touchscreen for the virtual environment while using mouse and keyboard for the GUI. User preference and performance both indicate that the single interaction metaphor was more usable, although each technique was sufficiently usable for accomplishing simulation goals.