Evaluating the Usefulness and Usability of Collaborative Personal Health Record Systems

Leslie S. Liu & Gillian R. Hayes

Personal health record systems (PHR) have great potential to improve both health documentation and patient care. The introduction and adoption of these systems, however, have been relatively slow. In this work, through usability evaluations and clinician interviews, we evaluated the usability of, usefulness of, and the ability to communicate and share information through PHR. We describe the results of our evaluation, which demonstrate how a combination of usability, functionality, and socio-cultural influences are impeding PHR adoption and use.

PatientsLikeMe: Empowerment and Representation in a Patient-Centered Social Network

Jed R. Brubaker, Caitlin Lustig, & Gillian R. Hayes

We examine the patient networking site PatientsLikeMe relative to current trends in medicine toward patient-centered care and empowerment. We focus on both patient and institutional demands for personal medical data. Given PatientsLikeMe’s mixture of social networking and health management tools, we consider the role of online health communities in the changing patient/provider relationship, and the use of patient-provided medical data.

Situated Practices of Looking:  Visual Practice in an Online World
Lilly Irani, Gillian R. Hayes, and Paul Dourish

Abstract: Graphical virtual worlds are increasingly significant sites of collaborative interaction. Many argue that the simulation of the everyday environment makes them particularly effective for collaboration. Based on a study of visual practice in Second Life, we argue: first, that the practice of looking is more varied than it might at first seem; second, that we need to look beyond the virtual in understanding virtual worlds; and third, that implementations blend interactional practice. We suggest that the value of virtual worlds as sites of collaboration might lie more in their richness and openness to appropriation than in their simulation of everyday interaction.