Redesigning Work With a Lightweight Approach to Coordination Technology

Coordination of information and resources is central to efficient ward management. Tools to aid coordination include standardized procedures and paper lists and, more recently, electronic tools such as whiteboards and mobile solutions. This study reports on the experiences and effects of designing and implementing collaboration technology, and how the use of light-weight technology has enabled redesign of traditional work processes. The process followed the principles for user-centered development and is evaluated through observations and informal interviews of users and stakeholders. In addition to the expected changes in work processes, we found that short redesign cycles with heavy user involvement afforded by this technology enabled implementation of new ways of structuring and combining information that were not foreseen. This turned the collaboration technology into a tool that also guided prioritization between tasks and contributed to the effects seen in use of resources, user satisfaction, and quality of treatment. The research has been carried out with support from the Regional Research Fund Hovedstaden through research contract 2015/163-239051 for the period March 2014 to June 2017. The authors have disclosed that they have no significant relationships with, or financial interest in, any commercial companies pertaining to this article. Corresponding author: Andreas D. Landmark, MSc, SINTEF Technology and Society, SP Andersensv. 5, 7030 Trondheim, Norway (Andreas.Landmark@sintef.no). Copyright © 2018 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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