Activity-based computing for medical work in hospitals

ABSTRACT

Studies have revealed that people organize and think of their work in terms of activities that are carried out in pursuit of some overall objective, often in collaboration with others. Nevertheless, modern computer systems are typically single-user oriented, that is, designed to support individual tasks such as word processing while sitting at a desk. This article presents the concept of Activity-Based Computing (ABC), which seeks to create computational support for human activities. The ABC approach has been designed to address activity-based computing support for clinical work in hospitals. In a hospital, the challenges arising from the management of parallel activities and interruptions are amplified because multitasking is now combined with a high degree of mobility, collaboration, and urgency. The article presents the empirical and theoretical background for activity-based computing, its principles, the Java-based implementation of the ABC Framework, and an experimental evaluation together with a group of hospital clinicians. The article contributes to the growing research on support for human activities, mobility, collaboration, and context-aware computing. The ABC Framework presents a unifying perspective on activity-based support for human-computer interaction.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: User interface management systems (UIMS)

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
        D.2.11 Software Architectures
            Subjects: Domain-specific architectures

  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: User-centered design; Theory and methods
      H.5.3 Group and Organization Interfaces
          Subjects: Asynchronous interaction; Synchronous interaction; Collaborative computing; Computer-supported cooperative work

  J. Computer Applications
  J.3 LIFE AND MEDICAL SCIENCES
      Subjects: Medical information systems

General Terms:
Human Factors

Keywords:
Framework, activity-awareness, activity-based computing, architecture, cooperation, electronic patient record, ubiquitous computing