Towards an Integrative Cognitive-Socio-Technical Approach in Health Informatics: Analyzing Technology-Induced Error Involving Health Information Systems to Improve Patient Safety

The purpose of this paper is to argue for an integration of cognitive and socio-technical approaches to assessing the impact of health information systems. Historically, health informatics research has examined the cognitive and socio-technical aspects of health information systems separately. In this paper we argue that evaluations of health information systems should consider aspects related to cognition as well as socio-technical aspects including impact on workflow (i.e. an integrated view). Using examples from the study of technology-induced error in healthcare, we argue for the use of simulations to evaluate the cognitive-socio-technical impacts of health information technology [36]. Implications of clinical simulations and analysis of cognitive-social-technical impacts are discussed within the context of the system development life cycle to improve health information system design, implementation and evaluation

User Evaluation of a Smartphone Application for Anticoagulation Therapy

Anticoagulation therapy with Warfarin is used for specific cardiovascular diseases to control the ability of blood clotting. Traditional ways of selfmanagement therapy are based on paper forms and procedures. This paper presents an evaluation of the smartphone application Warfarin Guide, a computer-assisted decision-support system used to help patients in their management of anticoagulation therapy related to International Normalized Ratio (INR) values. The evaluation consisted of a usability test with 4 participants and a field test with 14 participants who used the application at home during four months. A mixed methods research approach included quantitative and qualitative analysis of the test results. The results showed that participants evaluated the Warfarin Guide as ‘useful’ for self-management of anticoagulation therapy, reporting key issues for further improvement.publishedVersionNivå

Patient Centered Design : Challenges and Lessons Learned from Working with Health Professionals and Schizophrenic Patients in e-Therapy Contexts

Patient Centered Design (PCD) is a particular type of User Centered Design (UCD) where the end-user is a patient that will use an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solution for healthcare. It focuses on needs, wants and skills of the product’s primary user and implies involving end-users in the decision-making and development process of the solution. e-Therapy aims to provide support to therapy sessions through ICT solutions. In the mental health arena is being used for specific therapeutic contexts and is an especially difficult environment due to specificities of the patients' conditions; the physical access to patients is restricted and, sometimes, not even possible. Thus, a PCD approach can be accomplished through the health professionals involved, applying some of the most well-known methods of UCD: interviews, questionnaires, focus groups and participatory design. eSchi is an e-Therapy tool that complements traditional practices for the cognitive rehabilitation and training of schizophrenic patients and was successfully developed using a PCD approach