Abstract
ProblemSmartphone applications are an increasingly useful part of patients' self‐management of chronic health conditions. Asthma is a common chronic health condition for which good self‐management by patients is very helpful in maintaining stability. User‐centered design and intelligent systems that learn are steps forward in building applications that are more effective in providing quality care that is scalable and tailored to each patient.MethodsA literature and application store search to review historic and current asthma smart phone applications. User‐centered design is a methodology that involves all stakeholders of a proposed system from the beginning of the design phase to the end of installation. One aspect of this user‐centered approach involved conducting focus groups with patients and health care providers to determine what features they desire for use in applications and create a model to build smart infrastructure for a learning health care system. A simple prototype for an asthma smartphone application is designed and built with basic functionality.OutcomesOnly one publication in the literature review of asthma smartphone applications describes both user‐centered design and intelligent learning systems. The authors have presented a set of user‐desired attributes for a smart health care application and a possible data flow diagram of information for a learning system. A prototype simple user‐centered designed asthma smartphone application that better assists patients in their care illustrates the value of the proposed architecture.DiscussionOur user‐centered approach helped design and implement a learning prototype smart phone application to help patients better manage their asthma and provide information to clinical care providers. While popular in other industries, user‐centered design has had slow adoption in the health care area. However, the popularity of this approach is increasing and will hopefully result in mobile application that better meets the needs of both patients and their care providers.
Highlights
The concept of user-centered design (UCD) became popular with the publication of Donald Norman's book “A User-Centered System Design: New Perspectives on Human-Computer Interaction”[10] and the revised “The Design of Everyday Things.”[11]. UCD provides a framework in which all stakeholders of a system help define the goals and features of a system
A review of the 60 asthma smartphone application articles for UCD principles resulted in the exclusion of 48 because their titles or abstracts did not mention the development of the smartphone application or mention engaging patient end users in the development of the smartphone application
The prototype does not communicate with traditional Electronic Health Records (EHRs) such as EPIC because of political complexity and cost
Summary
The use of smartphones has evolved from mere usage for communication to manage one's own lifestyle, including one's health. When this study was started, it was one of the first studies of its kind in the area of asthma applications with a UCD approach that includes both patients and providers within the focus groups; more current research has adopted this approach.[12] This two-prong approach allows for a more complete understanding of what patients and providers both desire in a smartphone application for the self-management of health conditions. The design of asthma self-management smartphone applications needs a user-centered and smart learning focus because present applications are not meeting the needs of many patients or health care providers.[30]. The paper will discuss the authors' approach to UCD and intelligent learning systems, including the facilitation of focus groups and the evaluation of data collected from these patient and health care provider groups. The prototype needs further development and testing by patients and health care providers to truly test the application's effectiveness
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