Meeting place Tromsø

Optimal user experience of telecare services

Invitation
Telecare can be defined as "… the provision of health and social services to individuals, within or outside of their homes, with the support of systems enabled by ICT"[1]. It refers to services provided to an end user, and should be distinguished from telemedicine, which aims to cover the needs of medical professionals. Telecare can give chronically or temporarily dependent people the choice to continue living at home, to move about, more self-reliance, reduced anxiety, and the possibility of alerting a carer should they require immediate attention. Telecare thus reduces the need for institutionalization or hospitalization, helping to counter the escalating health costs of our ageing society.

Although undeniably useful, telecare is not yet widely accepted and in general use. An important factor hindering its acceptance is complicated or unsuitable user interfaces, or in general, designs that do not sufficiently take the full user experience of the service or the equipment into consideration. The European Telecommunications Standardization Institute (ETSI) therefore in January 2006 set up "Specialist Task Force 299" (STF299) [2]. Its aim is to formulate design guidelines for optimal usability of telecare systems. The guidelines will be of interest to all stakeholders and user groups in the telecare delivery chain, including:

• The client (end user)
• Informal carers (family, neighbours)
• Formal carers (nurses, social workers etc)
• Health institutions
• Home surveillance and alarm service suppliers
• Admitting hospitals
• Local and national health boards
• Equipment manufacturers and suppliers
• Service suppliers
• Network providers

Among the user interface elements that may be considered are the following:

• User confidence in the equipment and service
• Security and confidentiality issues
• Ease of setup, initial configuration, calibration and maintenance
• Ease of (daily) use
• Integration with and adaptation to the client's cultural background and social environment
• Integration with the existing organizational structure of the healthcare system
• Suitability of equipment for those having physical, sensory or cognitive impairments that render normal interaction difficult or impossible
• Suitability of equipment or service for mobile users

ETSI STF299 invites representatives from all telecare stakeholders to this workshop to discuss and express their opinion on design guidelines to make telecare more acceptable and more readily used. The workshop will ensure important input to the task force at an early stage, and help to focus its recommendations to the needs of the stakeholders. A résumé of the discussion will be mailed to the participants after the workshop.

Date: Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Time: 10.00-13.00

Place: Radisson SAS, Tromsø, Norway

Contacts
Registration and enquiries about the workshop should be directed to torbjorn dot sund at etsi dot org, tel +47 905 59 712. Comments or questions regarding the work of STF299 should go to hf_telecareux@list.etsi.org.

References
[1]    ETSI TR 102 415: Human Factors (HF); Telecare services; Issues and recommendations for user aspects. http://webapp.etsi.org/action/PU/20050823/tr_102415v010101p.pdf

[2]    ETSI Specialist Task Force 299: User Experience Guidelines for Telecare Solutions (e-Health). Work in progress. http://portal.etsi.org/stfs/hf/STF299.asp

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