Who is the Target User of a Patient Record System?

Abstract

Information systems aim to serve different users and their varying needs. This emphasizes user centered development because users, as experts of their work practices and contexts, have insights how the future system should serve their needs. However, it is ambiguous what is meant by the user centeredness, or who actually are the users. The issue is emphasized in large-scale public sector information systems, that are used by and influence myriad of individuals, some of who may be perceived as users or end-users. These users may not necessarily share a common interest towards the system. Under the circumstances the identification and definition of a user is exemplified since the system may not serve all the user groups in a similar manner or at the same quality level. We aim at identifying the users in a large-scale information systems project, namely a patient record system, in a single qualitative case study. Our identification of different levels of users provides a base for conceptualizing the user, and for explicitly addressing them either proactively in the development or later when conducting a postmortem analysis.