User-centric and inclusive design methods: implications for e-healthcare

This chapter discusses the role of user-centric and inclusive design methods in healthcare pathways. The rapid uptake of e-health technologies by clinicians and healthcare managers to administer, for example, patient records, has meant that user-centered e-health tools and processes should be adopted to enable those receiving healthcare to become more involved, more proactive in, and more responsible for their own healthcare and its planning. An argument for a user-centered approach as good business practice can also be made. The three case studies described in this chapter are united by a concern for the individual, the end-user, at the heart of healthcare processes, and how design methods, which have a strong emphasis on the consumer or user perspective, can assist the changing requirements for healthcare delivery through an improved, earlier and ongoing engagement with the recipients of health care.