Explorative clustering of clinical user profiles: A first step towards user-centered health information systems

Abstract

The literature in health information systems and medical informatics reports contradictory findings with regard to acceptance, routinization behavior, and use of technology in healthcare. A possible reason for that is the deficiency of certain studies to adequately conceptualize health professionals as users of technology. From a pragmatic view, many clinical systems suffer from a lack of usercentricity, which often provokes a certain level of resistance or negative attitude toward technology among health professionals. Clinical user profiles may be a first step in assisting researchers and practitioners in designing more user-centered systems as well as more precise usability and adoption studies. By means of an exploratory cluster analysis based on the answers of an online survey with 108 health professionals, three different user profiles were identified: the delegator, the allrounder , and the supporter. It is expected that the presented alternative view on users of health information systems may allow scientists to improve the explanatory power of value assessments and usability studies as well as designers to better adapt their solutions to the context and interests of health professionals.