Evaluation Of CityEHR Toolkit Through Development Of An Open ...

Naveed Dogar
3.0 Methodology
Observation: This is the study of users in their natural environment. The user is
observed carrying out their routine tasks. This method helps identify the actual
workflow of the tasks. Any ‘out of norm’ steps can be picked up and recorded. This
is also the best way to recognise any improvements that can me made in the
process. The general idea is that the new digital system would be more
streamlined; so any time saved would be extremely beneficial; potentially allowing
the clinic to see a few extra patients per week. Both passive and active observation
methods will be used; active method is effective for understanding the existing
methods better. Both these methods help uncover any implicit requirements which
might have been otherwise overlooked.
Prototyping: The plan is to deliver a rudimentary prototype within a month into
the project. This will give the clinician something to look at, and it will give plenty
of time for us to adapt it to the exact needs of the department. When the clinician
gets to looks at the real system, they are able to identify what works and doesn’t
work for them. This iterative process is an excellent opportunity for us to take the
feedback into account and alter the system accordingly.
3.3 Implementing Ponseti Portal:
Spending time in the clinic and observing the workflows initiated the development
process. A reflective diary was kept during this requirement-gathering process and
it documents the initial thoughts and ideas about Ponseti Portal. This can be found
in Appendix E.
There were two types of clinic, the regular casting clinic and the follow-up
clinic. Several casting procedures were observed to see what information was
required for the process, and how the casting process was documented. The
patient files were studied to see how information was being recorded and copies of
all the forms were obtained that were used in the clinic. This proved to be very
useful as later, the different ‘pages’ were designed based on the various forms that
were filled out and filed (refer to Appendix B for the forms). It was noted that
information could be classed together in a better way and so with the help of a
clinician; the forms were grouped together to make them concise. Wireframes
were developed on paper with the clinician and then reconstructed using
mockingbird - an online wireframe development tool[43] (not a part of City
toolkit). These wireframe can be found in Appendix D. Each stage of this process is
elaborated below, but the various development stages are demonstrated using
only one page from the system.
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