Fieldwork for Healthcare: Case Studies Investigating Human Factors in Computing Systems

Dominic Furniss · Ann Blandford · Rebecca Randell · Svetlena Taneva

May 2022 · Springer Nature

About this ebook

Performing fieldwork in healthcare settings is significantly different from fieldwork in other domains and it presents unique challenges to researchers. Whilst results are reported in research papers, the details of how to actually perform these fieldwork studies are not. This is the first of two volumes designed as a collective graduate guidebook for conducting fieldwork in healthcare. This volume brings together the experiences of established researchers who do fieldwork in clinical and non-clinical settings, focusing on how people interact with healthcare technology, in the form of case studies. These case studies are all personal, reflective accounts of challenges faced and lessons learned, which future researchers might also learn from. We open with an account of studies in the Operating Room, focusing on the role of the researcher, and how participants engage and resist engaging with the research process. Subsequent case studies address themes in a variety of hospital settings, which highlight the variability that is experienced across study settings and the importance of context in shaping what is possible when conducting research in hospitals. Recognising and dealing with emotions, strategies for gaining access, and data gathering are themes that pervade the studies. Later case studies introduce research involving collaborative design and intervention studies, which seek to have an immediate impact on practice. Mental health is a theme of two intervention studies as we move out of the hospital to engage with vulnerable participants suffering from long-term conditions and people in the home. This volume closes with an intervention study in the developing world that ends with some tips for conducting studies in healthcare. Such tips are synthesised through the thematic chapters presented in the companion volume.

About the author

Dominic Furniss is a Researcher Co-Investigator on the CHI+MED project at University College London. He investigates the design and use of medical devices in hospitals. His interests include the development of theory to support the understanding of performance in socio-technical systems. He is the lead editor and also the author of Chapter 3.Ann Blandford is Professor of Human-Computer Interaction at UCL, and leads the CHI+MED project on making interactive medical devices safer. Her expertise is in models and methods for studying interactive systems ""in the wild,"" with a particular focus on healthcare. She is the senior editor and a co-author of Chapter 11.Rebecca Randell is a Senior Translational Research Fellow in the School of Healthcare, University of Leeds, where she leads the decision-making research theme. Her research focuses on studying how technology impacts the decision making of healthcare professionals. She is a co-editor and also the author of Chapter 5.Svetlena Taneva is a Human Factors Specialist at Healthcare Human Factors, UHN. Svetlena specializes in the development and evaluation of technology and organizational processes for clinical environments. For the past eight years, Svetlena worked and published extensively in the area of HCI in healthcare. She is a co-editor and also a co-author of Chapter 4.