Design Against Fragmentation: Case Study of ICT in Healthcare

How does information and communication technology (ICT), such as telephones and computers, create interruptions for people at work, and how can fragmentation be counteracted? Empirical material was collected during 17 observation and interview sessions, at two surgical wards and one reception. The results show that the most important factor for counteracting fragmented work is that someone takes responsibility for the full picture when developing ICT. A naive user-centered design can produce applications that work well on its own but don’t work well together.

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