The e-MedTable: Development and testing of an electronic collaborative tool to support medication scheduling

Successful self-health management often includes a medication regimen. Medication adherence – taking medication according to how it is prescribed – is essential to effective treatment. It is even more crucial for older adults, who typically take multiple medications. Successful adherence depends on adequate knowledge about the medication, which often depends on effective communication with providers. Unfortunately, physician and patient communication is often inadequate. Successful adherence is also related to integrating medication taking with a daily routine. Previous research tested a paper tool (MedTable) to support provider-patient collaborative planning. The tool improved problem solving performance in a simulated medication scheduling task. The tool acts as an external workspace that reduces the cognitive demands of learning about and planning how to take medication, while also facilitating collaboration. Motivated by the increase in availability and benefits of health care information technology, an electronic interface, the e-MedTable was developed from the MedTable. In this study, the e-MedTable and a modified MedTable were compared to a less structured paper tool (Medcard) similar to those used in actual health settings, in order to see the effect of external aids on problem solving and collaboration. 144 community dwelling adults over 60 years old participated in pairs in a simulated patient-provider medication scheduling task. Each pair solved four medication scheduling problems (2 simple and 2 complex) using one of the three tools (MedTable, e-MedTable, Medcard). Measures were problem solving performance (solution accuracy and time), perceived workload, quality of collaboration, and usability. Participants created more accurate medication schedules when using the MedTable rather than the Medcard. The two structured tools reduced perceived workload and had higher usability than the less structured Medcard. Some aspects of collaboration were higher for users of the e-MedTable compared to the Medcard. Finally, there was no evidence that older adults had difficulty using the computer-based tool, which suggests that a computer-based tool could be an effective intervention for improving provider-patient collaboration in actual health care settings.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Industrial Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2010

Author dc:creator

• Waicekauskas, Kevin T.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Morrow, Daniel G.

• health care human factors
• collaboration
• external artifacts
• patient/provider communication
• medical interface

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2010 Kevin T. Waicekauskas

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/16473

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/16473