Using software to elicit user needs for clinical research visit scheduling

Area of Science:

• Clinical Informatics
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Health Services Research

Background:

• Effective clinical research decision support requires understanding user needs, but current methods often miss implicit requirements.
• Self-reporting alone is insufficient for capturing detailed user needs in clinical research settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore user needs for clinical research visit scheduling decision support.
• To evaluate the use of functional software (IMPACT) for iterative user needs elicitation.
• To identify generalizable user needs themes for clinical decision support systems.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a functional software prototype (IMPACT) to observe and interact with clinical research coordinators during visit scheduling tasks.
• Employed iterative analysis of software usage data and user feedback to identify unmet needs.
• Focused on clinical research visit scheduling as a case study.

Main Results:

• Identified key user needs, including information completeness, which explained the continued reliance on paper-based methods for visit scheduling.
• Demonstrated that functional software can reveal implicit and fine-grained user needs more effectively than self-reporting.
• Observed themes related to software utility that may apply to other clinical decision support contexts.

Conclusions:

• Functional software, like IMPACT, is a valuable tool for uncovering critical user needs in clinical research.
• Addressing identified user needs, such as information completeness, is essential for the successful adoption of clinical decision support software.
• The methodology for collecting and analyzing software usage data offers a generalizable approach for user needs elicitation in health informatics.