Discount user-centered e-health design: A quick-but-not-dirty method

Abstract

The philosophy of discount usability engineering perfectly fits the health care setting, where cost-cutting is ubiquitously present. We adapted Nielsen's discount usability approach for the health care setting by combining traditional thinking aloud (n=18) and Card Sorting (n=18) with online prototyping (n=5) and simplified thinking aloud (n=5). We used the approach to design an efficient and effective website with infection control guidelines for nursing home staff leading to high levels of satisfaction within a time frame of three months for the total cost of €7195. Based on our experiences, we would advocate using this discount user-centered approach for the design of e-health applications. Future research should concentrate on integrating the principles of creative co-design methods and online research into the discount usability approach. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.