A digital health design model for a live healthcare console from a South African public healthcare perspective

Abstract

Digital health systems can be effective when they are connected to each other and are able to share relevant information with stakeholders. In South Africa, however, not all digital health systems within the public healthcare environment are connected. The public healthcare system could therefore benefit from the implementation of a Live Healthcare Console which could connect disparate systems and combine and disseminate healthcare information such as hospital bed occupancy and ambulance diverts in real-time. The study proposes a graphical Design Model for a Live Healthcare Console. An initial first version was designed based on a review of the literature. Thirty-one semi-structured online interviews were then conducted with healthcare stakeholders from Gauteng’s public healthcare system. The interviews were analysed using an interpretive approach involving three cycles of coding. This resulted in the formulation of six themes (connect, combine, communicate, contain, collaborate and cooperate). The themes were applied to a revised second version, which was presented to a subset of the research participants. These participants provided feedback which was incorporated into the final and third version of this study.