Application of the Multi-disciplinary Thematic Seminar Method in two Homecare Cases - A comparative study

UNLABELLED A significant problem with current health information technologies is that they poorly support collaborative work of healthcare professionals, sometimes leading to a fragmentation of workflow and disruption of healthcare processes. OBJECTIVE This paper presents two homecare cases, both applying multi-disciplinary thematic seminars (MdTS) as a collaborative method for user needs elicitation and requirements specification. METHODS This study describes the MdTS application to elicit user needs from different perspectives to coincide with collaborative professions' work practices in two cases. RESULTS Despite different objectives, the two cases validated that MdTS emphasized the "points of intersection" in cooperative work. Different user groups with similar, yet distinct needs reached a common understanding of the entire work process, agreed upon requirements and participated in the design of prototypes supporting cooperative work. CONCLUSION MdTS was applicable in both exploratory and normative studies aiming to elicit the specific requirements in a cooperative environment.