Developing Smart Collaborative Work Platform for Small-Scale Nursing Homes: Using Service Design Methodology Based on Co-creation

Abstract

Background Despite the increasing demand for caregivers due to aging, research on improving the treatment of caregivers is insufficient, and in particular, care providers in small nursing homes do not receive attention in terms of size, resulting in a lack of contextual understanding and participatory research. Therefore, this study proposes a collaboration platform to improve the work efficiency of small nursing home care providers through a co-creation based service design methodology and a plan to utilize medical data in future smart nursing homes through a service blueprint. Methods This study confirmed the necessity of service development by investigating the current status of care services and collaboration platforms through literature research. Furthermore, the first and second in-depth interviews and task flow tracing analysis were conducted to derive user-centered needs, and participatory probes were conducted to propose and verify service ideas, and co-creation-based service design methodologies were used throughout the study. Results As a result of the study, we planned a dashboard-type small nursing home care provider collaboration platform provided as a tablet consisting of i) a smart record management system, ii) a smart schedule management system, iii) a smart reservation management system, and iv) a smart facility management system. Based on these results, the prototype was visualized, and a medical data utilization system for future smart nursing homes was established through service blueprints and system maps. Conclusions This study is of theoretical significance in that it proposes persona and user-centered services by job type by continuously and actively participating in service beneficiaries by research stage using co-creation. In addition, the study is of practical significance in that a basic study of a future smart nursing home is proposed by presenting a service model to improve the actual work efficiency of care providers.