Visualisation of Information Using Patient Journey Maps for a Mobile Health Application

Abstract

The demand for healthcare services using mobile devices has surged owing to the ageing population and increasing interest in personal healthcare. In particular, extensive efforts have been made to utilise mobile personal health records (PHRs) to provide personalised healthcare services to users (patients). Users must understand various types of health information that are included in PHRs to ensure successful and continued use of mobile PHRs. In this study, we developed and evaluated a user-friendly method for delivering health information from a PHR using mobile devices with small screens. We first constructed a patient journey map (PJM) for easy verification of disease treatment data from the perspective of the patient. Subsequently, we developed a mobile prototype that organises and visualises personal health information according to the patient-centred PJM and conducted user evaluations with 20 Korean participants. The results demonstrated that information delivery using the proposed prototype was easy to understand, user-friendly, and efficient. This paper highlights the importance of PJMs for patients in the understanding and use of different medical information. The proposed method is expected to promote the development of patient-centred mobile health applications in the future.