A Self-Reporting Tool to Reduce the Occurrence of Postoperative Adverse Events After Total Hip Arthroplasty

This thesis presents a research that has designed and evaluated a high-fidelity smartphone prototype, called SafeTHA. SafeTHA has been designed for patients to reduce the occurrence of postoperative adverse events after total hip arthroplasty (THA). A User-Centered Design approach was utilized to facilitate an optimal user experience and to emphasize the end-user. The prototype has two main functionalities. Firstly, it enables patients to self-report their current state through answering five simple questions from evidence-based practices regarding pain, anxiety, mobility, progress, and quality of recovery. Secondly, it informs the user about several aspects of rehabilitation such as pain, known risk factors, wound management, and recommended activity level. The use of mobile technology could enable timely self-reporting and collection of subjective patient data out of a hospital setting. The low-, and mid-fidelity prototypes were assessed by experts of Interaction Design, Medical Informatics, Biomedical Engineering, and healthcare professionals with respect to interaction flow, information content, and self-reporting functionalities. They found it to be practical, intuitive, sufficient and simple for users. The high-fidelity prototype was evaluated by medical experts and usability experts through the rigorous methods, System Usability Scale (SUS) and Heuristic Evaluation (HE). The results indicate that patient self-reporting could help recognize safety issues, adverse events, and empower patients postoperatively. Additional testing in a clinical setting is needed to fully demonstrate its usefulness.Masteroppgave i informasjonsvitenskapINFO390MASV-INF