Mette Alstrup and Sissel Elsman: IT Support for Work and Collaboration at an Out-Patient Ward: Solutions Suggested on the Basis of a Workplace Study and Analysis. - Master Thesis in Danish [It-støtte af Arbejde og Samarbejde på et Ambulatorium: Løsningsforslag på baggrund af undersøgelse og analyse], IT University of Copenhagen 2004. - Download thesis.
The process of treating and nursing patients in a hospital ward involves various groups of professionals who co-operate. We have conducted a field study, which is based on ethnographical principles. The study has taken place in the hand-surgical out-patient ward at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. Our interest was to analyse the work processes of the different staff groups and their mutual cooperation with a view to propose solutions to how the work processes can be supported by information technology. We have especially looked at the work of the nurses in moving patients through a day at the ward and the work of the booking surgeon of booking patients to operations. We have interviewed and observed the work of the staff and their mutual cooperation.
Our proposals for solutions have been elaborated based on the problems we encountered during our field study and include some of the principles behind palpable computing. These principles emphasize that the actions of the systems must be visible for the user. Palpable computing supports the user in understanding the actions of the system at a level chosen by the user. A palpable system therefore does not automatically act in situations where the user needs to control the system.
The thesis accounts for the usefulness of employing some of the ethnographical principles in data collection and further analysis. We account for the usefulness of employing theories of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) for the analysis of the work of the nurses in order to establish a base to elaborate proposals to support the cooperation of the various professional groups. Further we account for the usefulness of employing some of the principles behind palpable computing for the elaborations of our proposals for solutions. Also we discuss the significance of the artefacts currently used by a booking surgeon for booking patients. We have further elaborated on how a booking system can support the work of the booking surgeon. We have developed scenarios, screen pictures, and a data model showing how the various actors could carry out their different tasks if such a system was implemented, and how among other things it would support the nurses and the booking surgeon in their work.