Adaptation of the critical incident technique to requirements engineering in public health

The introduction of modern information systems in public health provides new possibilities for improvements in public health services and hence also of population's health. However, development of information systems that truly supports public health practices requires that technical, cognitive, and social issues be taken into consideration. In requirements engineering for public health, a notable problem is that of capturing all aspects of the future user's voices, i.e., the viewpoints of different public health practitioners. Failing to capture these voices will result in inefficient or even useless systems. The aim of this paper is to report a requirements-engineering instrument to describe problems in the daily work of public health professionals. The issues of concern thus captured can be used as the basis for formulating the requirements of information systems for public health professionals.