Sociotechnical Requirements Analysis for Clinical Systems

M. Reddy Ph.D.; W. Pratt Ph.D.; P. Dourish Ph.D.; M. M. Shabot M.D.

doi:10.1055/s-0038-1634346

Methods of Information in Medicine, Table of Contents

Methods Inf Med 2003; 42(04): 437-444
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1634346

Original article

Schattauer GmbH

Sociotechnical Requirements Analysis for Clinical Systems

Authors

M. Reddy Ph.D.

¹School of Management and Information Systems, University of Missouri-Rolla, Rolla, MO, USA
W. Pratt Ph.D.

²Division of Biomedical & Health Informatics and the Information School, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
P. Dourish Ph.D.

³School of Information and Computer Science, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
M. M. Shabot M.D.

⁴Departments of Surgery and Enterprise Information Systems, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Abstract

Summary

Objective: We explore sociotechnical requirements by examining the use of a computerized patient record system in an intensive care unit of a U.S. hospital and present two sociotechnical requirements, awareness and coordination, embedded in the users’ work.

Method: The study is based on observation during seven months of the use of a computerized patient record system in a surgical intensive care unit. During that period semi-formal interviews, informal interviews were held.

Results and Conclusions: A key step in the design of clinical systems is the development and analysis of requirements. However, traditional requirements analysis is based on a set of assumptions that break down in the highly collaborative, exception-filled clinical domain. Sociotechnical requirement analysis enabled the designers to gather a much richer description of the environment surrounding the computer system, highlighting awareness and coordination, embedded in the users’ work.

Keywords

Sociotechnical requirements analysis - clinical systems - computerized patient record system - collaborative work - intensive care unit

Full Text

References

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