Health information kiosk use in health organisations: the views of the health professionals

A series of in-depth one to one and group interviews were undertaken with h ealth professionals and surgery practice managers in medical locations wher e a touch screen information kiosk was available for use by patients. The p urpose of these interviews was to provide context and understanding for the kiosk log data that was being gathered that provided data on number and le ngth of use sessions, pages viewed and age and gender of users. The intervi ews were also concerned with issues beyond those raised by the logs princip ally the benefits and problems inherent in providing health information `on line' and the impact of electronic information for patients on the work of the medical practitioner. The reasons why kiosks were purchased and the ext ent to which expectations were met were also areas of interest. Results showed that disproportionately high use of the kiosk by children, i dentified by the log data, could be explained in a number of ways. Medical practitioners spoke of helping children both use the system for school proj ects and access pages on behalf of parents and grandparents. Inappropriate use, however, was also reported by practice managers. A number of factors c ited by professionals, such as poor IT skills and cultural barriers, help e xplain low use by the 55-74 age group. A resurgence of interest amongst the over 74s, however, remains a mystery awaiting the next stage of the fieldw ork, when patients are interviewed directly. Extensive encouragement by sta ff to encourage patient use may account for some of the condition specific pages accessed, by all age groups. Nurses tended to be far more pro-active than doctors, and saw many health-r elated benefits in referring patients to the kiosk. By contrast, doctors sa w the system in very practical ways - praising its space saving potential, for example, not enthusing about its possible value to patients in health t erms. Practice managers and others with responsibility for the maintenance of the system were unhappy with the extra work they were required to undert ake, and complained about children `playing' and about printer and other pr oblems.