Abstract
A telehealth stethoscope would make it possible for doctors to perform physical examinations on patients at great distances. In order to develop a useful and useable telehealth stethoscope we have conducted fieldwork observations of existing anaesthetic preadmission clinics to understand how stethoscopes are currently used. Both face-to-face consultations and videoconference consultations have been studied. Our results indicate that the stethoscope plays a minor role in the consultation and that consultations are mediated by the administrative work that is the reason for the consultation. We suggest that a stethoscope plays an infrastructural role in the consultation. The implications of considering stethoscopes as infrastructure are explored and considered in the context of a future telehealth stethoscope.
Keywords
Interaction, Stethoscope, Infrastructure, Telehealth, Expertise
Citation
Kraal, B., and Popovic, V. (2010) Interaction and Mediation in Preadmission Clinics: Implications for the Design of a Telehealth Stethoscope, in Durling, D., Bousbaci, R., Chen, L, Gauthier, P., Poldma, T., Roworth-Stokes, S. and Stolterman, E (eds.), Design and Complexity - DRS International Conference 2010, 7-9 July, Montreal, Canada. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2010/researchpapers/68
Interaction and Mediation in Preadmission Clinics: Implications for the Design of a Telehealth Stethoscope
A telehealth stethoscope would make it possible for doctors to perform physical examinations on patients at great distances. In order to develop a useful and useable telehealth stethoscope we have conducted fieldwork observations of existing anaesthetic preadmission clinics to understand how stethoscopes are currently used. Both face-to-face consultations and videoconference consultations have been studied. Our results indicate that the stethoscope plays a minor role in the consultation and that consultations are mediated by the administrative work that is the reason for the consultation. We suggest that a stethoscope plays an infrastructural role in the consultation. The implications of considering stethoscopes as infrastructure are explored and considered in the context of a future telehealth stethoscope.