In an effort to support designers and developers of consumer health IT products as they progress through the consumer product development process, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) last week published a new resource.
The guide, Designing Consumer Health IT: A Guide for Developers and Systems Designers, presents 10 recommendations as a way to introduce new approaches to consumer health IT developers and companies that want to increase sales and better satisfy customers.
Recommendations in the guide focus on the design methods and issues to consider throughout the development process and into commercialization. Where possible, advice is provided about how to apply these recommendations for consumer health, especially considerations about interoperability, privacy, and product safety.
The recommendations can be employed either as general guidance for designers and design teams, or as specific to a design phase such as idea generation, identification of end users, testing, and commercialization.
