Usability of information systems : Experiences of outpatient physicians, outpatient nurses, and open care social welfare professionals from three large cross-sectional surveys in Finland

Background: Many European countries are integrating healthcare and social welfare services; some also include joint information systems (ISs) in this process. Despite this, large national survey studies examining and comparing the experiences of the major professional groups regarding the usability of their health (HISs) and client information systems (CISs) are lacking.Methods: We combined the responses from three national cross-sectional surveys conducted among physicians and nurses in 2017, and social welfare professionals (SWPs) in 2019 in Finland. We selected the responses of 1,826 physicians and 774 nurses working in outpatient clinics in specialized and primary care, and 669 social workers and other SWPs working in open services. The questionnaires were adjusted from a validated instru-ment. In this study, we analyzed 11 usability-related statements.Results: The healthcare professionals (HPs) were more critical of the stability and responsiveness of their ISs than the SWPs (27-48% vs 58-65% agreed). The physicians were most dissatisfied with IS support for routine tasks (24-26% agreed). Less than half of all respondents agreed with statements concerning the ease of documentation, arrangement of fields, and terminology. While the HPs were satisfied with IS support for collaboration and in-formation exchange between professionals in the same organization, all professional groups were dissatisfied with cross-organizational support and communication with patients and clients. Almost half of the HPs considered that HISs improve the quality of care, but 80% of the SWPs disagreed that CISs help improve the quality of services. Conclusions: Overall, the physicians, nurses, and SWPs were dissatisfied with the usability of their HISs and CISs. Based on our findings, ISs should be further developed to support routine tasks, inter-and cross-organizational collaboration, and information exchange. ISs for the integration of care and services should be designed to accommodate various professional groups' different work contexts and needs.Peer reviewe

Post-Soviet Russian Culture : Anomy, Desecularization and the Conservative Turn

Peer reviewe

Sosiaalialan ammattilaiset halukkaita osallistumaan asiakastietojärjestelmien kehittämiseen - osallistumistavoissa kehitettävää

Vertaisarvioitu. Tiivistelmä suomeksi. English abstract.Peer reviewe

Sosiaalialan asiakastietojärjestelmissä paljon parannettavaa: käyttäjäkokemukset 2019

Vertaisarvioitu. English summary. Finnish summaryPeer reviewe

Sosiaalialan ammattilaisten käyttäjäkokemukset asiakastietojärjestelmien käytettävyydestä ja tuesta tapauskohtaisen tiedon muodostamiselle

Asiakastietojärjestelmät ovat sosiaalialan ammattilaisten keskeinen työväline, ja järjestelmien tulisi kansallisten tavoitteiden mukaisesti olla käytettävyydeltään hyviä sekä tukea tiedon hyödyntämistä. Sosiaalialan työssä on keskeistä hahmottaa asiakkaan tilanne kokonaisvaltaisesti, huomioiden kaikki asiakkaan arkeen ja elämäntilanteeseen vaikuttavat osatekijät. Tässä pro gradussa tutkitaan sosiaalialan ammattilaisten käyttäjäkokemuksia käyttämistään asiakastietojärjestelmistä. Erityisesti keskitytään ammattilaisten kokemuksiin järjestelmien käytettävyydestä osana arkisia työtehtäviä sekä miten järjestelmät tukevat ammattilaisten työn kannalta keskeisiä tehtäviä liittyen tapauskohtaiseen asiakkaan tilanteen hahmottamiseen. Tutkimuksen empiirinen aineisto on valtakunnallisen sosiaalialan korkeakoulutetuille ammattilaisille vuonna 2020 toteutetun STePS 3.0 -kyselytutkimuksen osa-aineisto. Aineisto koostui 980 vastaajasta ja analysoitiin tilastollisin menetelmin. Tutkimuksen yhteydessä toteutettiin kartoittava kirjallisuuskatsaus, jonka tarkoitus oli selvittää, mitä tutkimuksen keinoin on saatu selville asiakastietojärjestelmien käytettävyydestä ja käyttäjäkokemuksista. Tulokset osoittavat, että 38 % vastaajista arvioi järjestelmien käytettävyyden hyväksi. Myös aiempi tutkimus paljastaa, että järjestelmien käytettävyydessä on parannettavaa, vaikka aiempaa kansainvälistä sosiaalialan asiakastietojärjestelmien tutkimusta ei juurikaan paikanneta käytettävyyden alueelle. Kirjallisuuskatsaus osoittaa, että ammattilaisten tarpeet työn toteuttamiseksi järjestelmän tuella ovat ristiriidassa organisaation tarpeiden kanssa. Ammattilaiset kokevat järjestelmien informaation laadun olevan hyvää, mutta järjestelmissä tiedon esittämistapa ei tue ammattilaisia riittävästi asiakkaan kokonaistilanteen hahmottamisessa. Käytettävyys on vahvin ja tietojärjestelmän informaation laatu toiseksi vahvin ennustava tekijä ammattilaisten kokemalle asiakastietojärjestelmän tuelle sosiaalialan tapauskohtaisen tiedon muodostamisessa. Vastaajista 42 % koki käyttämiensä asiakastietojärjestelmien tukevan heikosti ja 34 % hyvin tapauskohtaista tiedon hahmottamista. Jatkotutkimusta tietojärjestelmien käytettävyydestä ja tuesta asiakkaan tapauskohtaisen tiedon muodostukselle tarvitaan, jotta tutkimustietoa voidaan hyödyntää tietojärjestelmien kehittämistyön tukena.Client information systems (CISs) are essential tools for social care professionals: the systems should support their routine work and information management. Further, the systems are expected to be of high quality as usability of CIS is even mentioned in the national eHealth and eWelfare strategy. In the social care, it is essential to get a comprehensive view of the client’s life situation. This thesis examines the user experiences of social care professionals with the CISs they use. Specifically, the focus is on professionals' experiences of system usability in everyday tasks and how the systems support tasks crucial to their work, such as understanding the client´s individual situation. The empirical data for the study consists of a subset of the STePS 3.0 national survey conducted in 2020 among professionals with polytechnic or university degree in the field of social care. The data comprised 980 respondents and was analyzed using statistical methods. In addition, a scoping study was conducted to find out what research has revealed about the usability and user experiences of CISs in previous studies. The results indicate that 38% of the respondents rated the usability of the systems as good. Previous research also indicates that improvements in usability are needed, although there is limited international research that focuses on usability in social care customer information systems. The scoping study showed that professionals' needs for performing their work with the support of the system are in conflict with the needs of the organization. Professionals experienced that the information quality in the systems is good, but the way the information is presented in the systems does not adequately support professionals in comprehending the overall situation of the client. Usability is the strongest predictive factor for the support professionals perceive from the customer information system in forming case-based knowledge, followed by the quality of information as the second strongest predictive factor. Of the respondents, 42% felt that the customer information systems they used provided weak support, and 34% felt it provided strong support in comprehending case-based knowledge. Further research on the usability and support for forming case-based knowledge for the client is needed to utilize this research as support for the development of information systems

Social welfare professionals willing to participate in client information system development–Results from a large cross-sectional survey

Human-centered design methods should be implemented throughout the client information system (CIS) development process to understand social welfare professionals’ needs, tasks, and contexts of use. The aim of this study was to examine Finnish social welfare professionals’ experiences of participating in CIS development. A national cross-sectional web-based survey on the CIS experiences of social welfare professionals (1145 respondents) was conducted in Finland in spring 2019. This study focused on statements concerning the experiences of end users with CIS development and participation. The results are reported by professional and age groups. Half (50%) of the 1145 respondents had participated in CIS development. Half (56%) knew to whom and how to send feedback to software developers, but most (87%) indicated that changes and corrections were not made according to suggestions and quickly enough. The most preferred methods of participation were telling a person in charge of information systems development about usage problems (53%) and showing developers on site how professionals work (34%); 19% were not interested in participating. Social welfare professionals are willing to participate in CIS development, but vendors and social welfare provider organizations are underutilizing this resource. Social welfare informaticists are needed to interpret the needs of end users to software developers.Peer reviewe

Associations of polygenic inheritance of physical activity with aerobic fitness, cardiometabolic risk factors and diseases : the HUNT study

Physical activity (PA), aerobic fitness, and cardiometabolic diseases (CMD) are highly heritable multifactorial phenotypes. Shared genetic factors may underlie the associations between higher levels of PA and better aerobic fitness and a lower risk for CMDs. We aimed to study how PA genotype associates with self-reported PA, aerobic fitness, cardiometabolic risk factors and diseases. PA genotype, which combined variation in over one million of gene variants, was composed using the SBayesR polygenic scoring methodology. First, we constructed a polygenic risk score for PA in the Trondelag Health Study (N = 47,148) using UK Biobank single nucleotide polymorphism-specific weights (N = 400,124). The associations of the PA PRS and continuous variables were analysed using linear regression models and with CMD incidences using Cox proportional hazard models. The results showed that genotypes predisposing to higher amount of PA were associated with greater self-reported PA (Beta [B] = 0.282 MET-h/wk per SD of PRS for PA, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.211, 0.354) but not with aerobic fitness. These genotypes were also associated with healthier cardiometabolic profile (waist circumference [B = -0.003 cm, 95% CI = -0.004, -0.002], body mass index [B = -0.002 kg/m(2), 95% CI = -0.004, -0.001], high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [B = 0.004 mmol/L, 95% CI = 0.002, 0.006]) and lower incidence of hypertensive diseases (Hazard Ratio [HR] = 0.97, 95% CI = 0.951, 0.990), stroke (HR = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.903, 0.978) and type 2 diabetes (HR = 0.94, 95 % CI = 0.902, 0.970). Observed associations were independent of self-reported PA. These results support earlier findings suggesting small pleiotropic effects between PA and CMDs and provide new evidence about associations of polygenic inheritance of PA and intermediate cardiometabolic risk factors.Peer reviewe