Summary

The book presents a user-oriented methodology for formative (technology) assessment at the development of medical IT-based solutions throughout a system's life-cycle, i.e. from the conception of an idea to disposal of the materialized solution. The methodology developed was tested in a full scale prospective application. Three basic cognitions underpin the entire work: 1) the users of the medical application domain are responsible (and liable) for the level of quality of their service provision within the Healthcare scenario; 2) users are experts at their work (the Healthcare service), and the IT-professionals are not; and 3) introduction of a non-trivial IT-based solution implies re-engineering of the business of the organization into which it is introduced.