Disaster Med Public Health Prep

ObjectiveWe developed and validated a user-centered information system to support the local planning of public health continuity of operations for the Community Health Services Division, Public Health - Seattle & King County, Washington.MethodsThe Continuity of Operations Data Analysis (CODA) system was designed as a prototype developed using requirements identified through participatory design. CODA uses open-source software that links personnel contact and licensing information with needed skills and clinic locations for 821 employees at 14 public health clinics in Seattle and King County. Using a web-based interface, CODA can visualize locations of personnel in relationship to clinics to assist clinic managers in allocating public health personnel and resources under dynamic conditions.ResultsBased on user input, the CODA prototype was designed as a low-cost, user-friendly system to inventory and manage public health resources. In emergency conditions, the system can run on a stand-alone battery-powered laptop computer. A formative evaluation by managers of multiple public health centers confirmed the prototype design\u2019s usefulness. Emergency management administrators also provided positive feedback about the system during a separate demonstration.ConclusionsValidation of the CODA information design prototype by public health managers and emergency management administrators demonstrates the potential usefulness of building a resource management system using open-source technologies and participatory design principles.P01 TP000297/TP/OPHPR CDC HHS/United StatesT15 LM007442/LM/NLM NIH HHS/United StatesT32 NR007106/NR/NINR NIH HHS/United StatesT15LM007442/LM/NLM NIH HHS/United StatesT32NR007106/NR/NINR NIH HHS/United States5P01TP000297/TP/OPHPR CDC HHS/United States2014-06-18T00:00:00Z24618165PMC4062076vault:243

Security Specialists are from Mars; Healthcare Practitioners are from Venus: The Case for a Community-of-Practice Approach to Security Architectures for Healthcare

Information security is a necessary requirement of information sharing in the healthcare environment. Research shows that the application of security in this setting is sometimes subject to work-arounds where healthcare practitioners feel forced to incorporate practices that they have not had an input into and with which they have not engaged with. This can result in a sense of security practitioners and healthcare practitioners being culturally very different in their approach to information systems. As a result such practices do not constitute part of their community of practice nor their identity. In order to respond to this, systems designers typically deploy user-centred, participatory approaches to design using various forms of consultation and engagement in order to ensure that the needs of users are responded to within the design. Learning from international implementations of e-health, the development of the Australian electronic health records (EHR) system has been a participatory process. However, the more participatory approach has not been used as part of the technical security design of the e-health system and the functionality of the security governance architecture was not included in the process of consultation. Such exclusions result in a design-reality gap in so far as the healthcare systems as envisioned by designers are not easily related to by “front-line” clinical staff. Despite repeated design-reality issues in healthcare systems design, there is no fundamental change in the development paradigm to address the socio-technical security aspects of such systems. Indeed, the security perspective of system designers seems to originate from a very different perspective to that of front-line clinical staff. This discussion paper characterises the problem, uses examples from both the UK and Australian EHR experience, and proposes an alternative start-point to healthcare systems design

Security Specialists are from Mars; Healthcare Practitioners are from Venus: The Case for a Community-of-Practice Approach to Security Architectures for Healthcare

Information security is a necessary requirement of information sharing in the healthcare environment. Research shows that the application of security in this setting is sometimes subject to work-arounds where healthcare practitioners feel forced to incorporate practices that they have not had an input into and with which they have not engaged with. This can result in a sense of security practitioners and healthcare practitioners being culturally very different in their approach to information systems. As a result such practices do not constitute part of their community of practice nor their identity. In order to respond to this, systems designers typically deploy user-centred, participatory approaches to design using various forms of consultation and engagement in order to ensure that the needs of users are responded to within the design. Learning from international implementations of e-health, the development of the Australian electronic health records (EHR) system has been a participatory process. However, the more participatory approach has not been used as part of the technical security design of the e-health system and the functionality of the security governance architecture was not included in the process of consultation. Such exclusions result in a design-reality gap in so far as the healthcare systems as envisioned by designers are not easily related to by “front-line” clinical staff. Despite repeated design-reality issues in healthcare systems design, there is no fundamental change in the development paradigm to address the socio-technical security aspects of such systems. Indeed, the security perspective of system designers seems to originate from a very different perspective to that of front-line clinical staff. This discussion paper characterises the problem, uses examples from both the UK and Australian EHR experience, and proposes an alternative start-point to healthcare systems design

Progress-Based Strategy For User Engagement In mHealth Participatory Sensing

For a long time, outcome-based strategy is used as a basis of health standard in wellness program. However, in the case of mHealth participatory sensing the strategy is not always pertinent because the user of the platform is not limited to patient only, but also by a person who used the system for wellness maintenance, and by the stakeholders that collect and analyze information. To improve community’s engagement on health wellness and maintenance, we propose myCommHealth that emphasizes on progress-based strategy. myCommHealth is an open data collection platform using mobile devices and allow community and stakeholder to collect, analyze and submit or share health related The objective of this paper is two-fold: First, to explore the design principle behind progress-based strategy for user engagement in mHealth participatory sensing system. Second, to propose myCommHealth, a proof-of-concept prototype that incorporate intrinsic incentive, feedback, and self-monitoring tools to improve user participation in wellness and health-maintenance campaign

The role of user requirements research in medical device development

Aims and Objectives: This research aims to suggest a concise framework to help in the better conceptualisation and integration of users in the medical device development (MDD) process. The current economic, political and social climate concerning the matter of healthcare delivery has resulted in the emergence of numerous users and user groups for whom the healthcare system has not previously catered for. These users have created ambiguity for the designers and manufacturers of medical devices as the boundaries between their needs and requirements have blurred, outdating current methods of MDD to meet consumer needs. Research Design and Methodology: The research methodology begins primarily with conducting a literature search on the theories relating to user requirements and medical device development. The paper outlines these findings through initially describing users and user involvement and relating them to medical devices. The cross-disciplinary nature of healthcare influenced the investigation into multiple disciplines including; IT, Ergonomics – particularly participatory research, Psychology and Design. These disciplines expose various methods and processes, which are useful to user requirements research. These methods were analysed for their compatibility, and then used to construct a conceptual framework for user involvement in MDD. Results: The research insinuates the true significance of user involvement and hence resulted in the formation of a conceptual framework to aid user involvement in the MDD process. The framework is produced by the amalgamation of relevant methods examined across the disciplines, in a complimentary fashion. Conclusion: The originality of this research lies in its use of a multidisciplinary approach. Previous research claiming multi-methods has dealt with combining two disciplines or methods at a time i.e. Computer supported cooperative work (CSCW) with participatory research (Scandurra et al, 2008) for the needs analysis of healthcare professionals only. Collaboration across disciplines has also been investigated (Johnson et al, 2005), but this was for the purpose of redesign rather than initial designs. This framework can help medical device designers to fully access all user requirements through more extensive collaboration right at the start. It reduces the risk of high costs involved in device rejection, usually associated with belated recognition of user needs in the design cycle

Participatory design and participatory development: a comparative review

This paper examines literature in the twin domains of participatory interactive systems design and participatory approaches to international development. As interactive systems are increasingly promoted as a possible means of achieving international development goals, designers generally agree that participatory design approaches should be applied. However, review of the literature reveals that these two different traditions have more complex relationships, and questions must be asked about: the aims of participation, the forms of participation that are being advocated, and the skills and strategies required of practitioners. The findings suggest that successful integration of participatory interactive systems design into development will require careful reflection on the nature of development and the approaches adopted.</p

Human computer interaction for international development: past present and future

Recent years have seen a burgeoning interest in research into the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the context of developing regions, particularly into how such ICTs might be appropriately designed to meet the unique user and infrastructural requirements that we encounter in these cross-cultural environments. This emerging field, known to some as HCI4D, is the product of a diverse set of origins. As such, it can often be difficult to navigate prior work, and/or to piece together a broad picture of what the field looks like as a whole. In this paper, we aim to contextualize HCI4D—to give it some historical background, to review its existing literature spanning a number of research traditions, to discuss some of its key issues arising from the work done so far, and to suggest some major research objectives for the future

Youth Reproductive Health in Nepal: Is Participation the Answer?

Discusses the processes and results of a multi-year research study by ICRW, EngenderHealth, and Nepali partners, which tested the effectiveness of the participatory approach in defining and addressing the reproductive health concerns of adolescents

How was it for you? Experiences of participatory design in the UK health service

Improving co-design methods implies that we need to understand those methods, paying attention to not only the effect of method choices on design outcomes, but also how methods affect the people involved in co-design. In this article, we explore participants' experiences from a year-long participatory health service design project to develop ‘Better Outpatient Services for Older People’. The project followed a defined method called experience-based design (EBD), which represented the state of the art in participatory service design within the UK National Health Service. A sample of participants in the project took part in semi-structured interviews reflecting on their involvement in and their feelings about the project. Our findings suggest that the EBD method that we employed was successful in establishing positive working relationships among the different groups of stakeholders (staff, patients, carers, advocates and design researchers), although conflicts remained throughout the project. Participants' experiences highlighted issues of wider relevance in such participatory design: cost versus benefit, sense of project momentum, locus of control, and assumptions about how change takes place in a complex environment. We propose tactics for dealing with these issues that inform the future development of techniques in user-centred healthcare design