User-centered design of a mobile medication management

ABSTRACT

Background: The use of a nationwide medication plan has been promoted as an effective strategy to improve patient safety in Germany. However, the medication plan only exists as a paper-based version, which is related to several problems, that could be circumvented by an electronic alternative. Objective: The main objective of this study was to report on the development of a mobile interface concept to support the management of medication information. Methods: The human-centered design (UCD) process was chosen. First the context of use was analyzed, and personas and an interaction concept were designed. Next, a paper prototype was developed and evaluated by experts. Based on those results, a medium-fidelity prototype was created and assessed by seven end-users who performed a thinking-aloud test in combination with a questionnaire based on the System Usability Scale (SUS). Results: Initially for one persona/user type, an interface design concept was developed, which received an average SUS-Score of 92.1 in the user test. Usability problems have been solved so that the design concept could be fixed for a future implementation. Contribution: The approach of the UCD process and the methods involved can be applied by other researchers as a framework for the development of similar applications.

KEYWORDS:

• Evaluation studies
• mobile health
• user–computer interface
• medical informatics application

Acknowledgments

We would like to gratefully acknowledge all the study participants who took the time from their busy schedules to give their valuable feedback. We also thank Stephanie Newe for improving the use of English in the manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Brita Sedlmayr

BS, MS, and HUP initiated and designed the overall project. BS and MS supervised the methodological approach. JS acquired the study participants, programmed the study prototype, collected, and analyzed the data. BS wrote the first draft of the article and edited the final version. BS, MS, JS, and HUP contributed to the article by revising the first draft and providing various comments. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.