Abstract
BackgroundWe describe the development and evaluation of a secure Web-based system for the purpose of collaborative care called Loop. Loop assembles the team of care with the patient as an integral member of the team in a secure space.ObjectiveThe objectives of this paper are to present the iterative design of the separate views for health care providers (HCPs) within each patient’s secure space and examine patients’, caregivers’, and HCPs’ perspectives on this separate view for HCP-only communication.MethodsThe overall research program includes cycles of ethnography, prototyping, usability testing, and pilot testing. This paper describes the usability testing phase that directly informed development. A descriptive qualitative approach was used to analyze participant perspectives that emerged during usability testing.ResultsDuring usability testing, we sampled 89 participants from three user groups: 23 patients, 19 caregivers, and 47 HCPs. Almost all perspectives from the three user groups supported the need for an HCP-only communication view. In an earlier prototype, the visual presentation caused confusion among HCPs when reading and composing messages about whether a message was visible to the patient. Usability testing guided us to design a more deliberate distinction between posting in the Patient and Team view and the Health Care Provider Only view at the time of composing a message, which once posted is distinguished by an icon.ConclusionsThe team made a decision to incorporate an HCP-only communication view based on findings during earlier phases of work. During usability testing we tested the separate communication views, and all groups supported this partition. We spent considerable effort designing the partition; however, preliminary findings from the next phase of evaluation, pilot testing, show that the Patient and Team communication is predominantly being used. This demonstrates the importance of a subsequent phase of the clinical trial of Loop to validate the concept and design.
Highlights
Four types of chronic disease – cardiovascular disease, cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes – kill an estimated 153,000 Canadians every year, account for nearly threequarters of all deaths in the country, and are the major causes of premature death and hospitalization
The biggest killer is cardiovascular disease, which claimed the lives of 76,321 Canadians in 2000, and accounted for 35% of all deaths in the country
Arthritis and rheumatism afflict 14% of Canadians, with Nova Scotians having the highest rates at 20%
Summary
Four types of chronic disease – cardiovascular disease, cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes – kill an estimated 153,000 Canadians every year, account for nearly threequarters of all deaths in the country, and are the major causes of premature death and hospitalization. Combining direct medical costs ($38.9 billion) and indirect productivity losses ($54.4 billion), the total economic burden of seven types of chronic illness (cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory ailments, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders, diseases of the nervous system and sense organs, and mental illness), exceeds $93 billion a year. The Cost of Chronic Disease study was originally done for Nova Scotia, and this report is the first to present estimates for Canada It indicates that Canada’s high rates of chronic illness can be reduced through concerted health promotion initiatives that reduce risk behaviours and conditions. The evidence demonstrates that the country’s escalating health care costs can be significantly lowered by improving the health of the population and thereby reducing the need and demand for medical care
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
