title: Using conceptual work products of health care to design health IT.
abstract: This paper introduces a new, model-based design method for interactive health information technology (IT) systems. This method extends workflow models with models of conceptual work products. When the health care work being modeled is substantially cognitive, tacit, and complex in nature, graphical workflow models can become too complex to be useful to designers. Conceptual models complement and simplify workflows by providing an explicit specification for the information product they must produce. We illustrate how conceptual work products can be modeled using standard software modeling language, which allows them to provide fundamental requirements for what the workflow must accomplish and the information that a new system should provide. Developers can use these specifications to envision how health IT could enable an effective cognitive strategy as a workflow with precise information requirements. We illustrate the new method with a study conducted in an outpatient multiple sclerosis (MS) clinic. This study shows specifically how the different phases of the method can be carried out, how the method allows for iteration across phases, and how the method generated a health IT design for case management of MS that is efficient and easy to use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Washington, Campus Box 352315, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. Electronic address: ablberry@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Andrew B L
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Berry
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Washington, Campus Box 352315, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. Electronic address: Keith.A.Butler@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Keith A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.affiliation: School of Biomedical Informatics, University of Texas-Houston, 7000 Fannin St Suite 600, Houston, TX 77030, USA. Electronic address: craig.j.harrington@uth.tmc.edu.
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Harrington
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Washington, Campus Box 352315, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. Electronic address: braxtm@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Melissa O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Braxton
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific St, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. Electronic address: walkeraj@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Amy J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Washington, Campus Box 352315, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. Electronic address: peten@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Nikki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pete
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Washington, Campus Box 352315, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. Electronic address: trevorj@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Trevor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, University of Washington, Box 357230, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. Electronic address: moberle@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Mark W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Oberle
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, 1660 South Columbian Way, Seattle, WA 98108-1532, USA. Electronic address: Jodie.Haselkorn@va.gov.
authors.forename: Jodie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Haselkorn
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, 1660 South Columbian Way, Seattle, WA 98108-1532, USA. Electronic address: Paul.Nichol@va.gov.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Paul Nichol
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Washington, Campus Box 352315, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. Electronic address: markh@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haselkorn
mesh_terms: D057286:Electronic Health Records; D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics / Q000379:methods*; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D012984:Software; D014584:User-Computer Interface
keywords: Case management; Conceptual work products; Electronic health record; Health IT; Human–computer interaction; Information architecture; Model-based design; User interface; Workflow