Since health care teams are often distributed across time and location, information sharing is crucial for effective patient care. Studying the use of a mobile information technology in a local hospital ward at two months and eleven months after its deployment identifies both shortand long-term phenomena and reveals a mismatch between the intentions behind the deployed mobile technology and the nurses' current work practices. We contrast the new mobile technology with the paper artifacts that were previously relied upon in nursing work. Finally, in light of these findings, we suggest design directions for future technology to support the nursing shift work. Author Keywords Observation, shift change, information flow, mobile technology, computer-on-wheels, personal notes. ACM Classification Keywords H.m. Information Systems: Miscellaneous.
Charlotte Tang, M. Sheelagh T. Carpendale