Background: Design thinking and human-centered design approaches have become increasingly common in health care literature, particularly in relation to health information technology (HIT), as a pathway toward the development of usable, diffusible tools and processes. There is a need in academic medical centers tasked with digital innovation for a comprehensive process model to guide development that incorporates current industry trends, including design thinking and lean and agile approaches to digital development.
Objective: This study aims to describe the foundations and phases of our model for user-centered HIT development.
Methods: Based on our experience, we established an integrated approach and rigorous process for HIT development that leverages design thinking and lean and agile strategies in a pragmatic way while preserving methodological integrity in support of academic research goals.
Results: A four-phased pragmatic process model was developed for user-centered digital development in HIT.
Conclusions: The model for user-centered HIT development that we developed is the culmination of diverse innovation projects and represents a multiphased, high-fidelity process for making more creative, flexible, efficient, and effective tools. This model is a critical step in building a rigorous approach to HIT design that incorporates a multidisciplinary, pragmatic perspective combined with academic research practices and state-of-the-art approaches to digital product development to meet the unique needs of health care.
Keywords: academic medical centers; digital health; heath information technology; innovation; process model; user-centered design.
©Sara Kuppin Chokshi, Devin M Mann. Originally published in JMIR Human Factors (http://humanfactors.jmir.org), 19.12.2018.