Characterising cooperation in the ward: framework for producing requirements to mobile electronic healthcare records

We present a framework for characterising hospital scenarios involving the patient chart. The paper-based chart is regarded as simple, efficient, and handy for mobile use by patient-care teams. However, the chart is available in only one physical place at a time, and it needs to be manually synchronised with the electronic healthcare record (EHR). The framework presented in this paper has been developed for use in non-participatory, observational studies performed at the University Hospital of Trondheim, conducted as a part of the MOBEL (MOBile ELectronic patient chart) project at NTNU. We have developed the framework iteratively; repeatedly observing groups in the ward, characterising observations in the framework, and changing attributes and outcome values. This paper presents our latest framework, a representative choice of scenarios, and their characterisation. We conclude with a discussion of results so far, the method, and the utility in the development of the MEPC.