User requirements for a practice-integrated nurse-administered online communication service for cancer patients

This paper describes the use of participatory design methods in the development of a nurse-administered online patient-provider communication (OPPC) service that is designed to be integrated into routine clinical practice. The OPPC service let patients stay connected with expert nurses and other health care providers to ask questions and receive advice from home. Through focus groups, workshops, heuristic evaluations and usability testing, we identified patients' and clinicians' (nurses' and physicians') user requirements, factors important for successful adoption, implementation and maintenance of the OPPC service, and usability. This paper shares important insights from these participatory design processes that may be helpful for other researchers who wish to implement clinical applications into routine practice.