JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Personal Health Record (PHR) technology can be used to support workplace health promotion, and prevent social and economic losses related to workers’ health management. PHR services can not only ensure interoperability, security, privacy, and data quality, but also consider the user's perspective in their design.

Objective:

Using Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) and national healthcare datasets, this study aimed to design and develop an app for providing worker-centered, interconnected PHR services.

Methods:

This study considered the user's perspective, using the Human-Centered Design (HCD) methodology, to develop a PHR app suitable for occupational health. We developed a prototype after analyzing quantitative and qualitative data collected from workers and a healthcare professional group, after which we performed a usability evaluation. We structured workers’ PHR items based on the analyzed data, and ensured structural and semantic interoperability using FHIR, Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine-Clinical Terms (SNOMED-CT), and Logical Observation Identifiers, Names, and Codes (LOINC). This study integrated workers’ health information scattered across different Korean institutions through an interface method, and workers’ PHRs were managed through a cloud server, using Azure API for FHIR.

Results:

In total, 562 workers from industrial parks participated in the quantitative study. The preferred data items for PHR were medication, number of steps walked, diet, blood pressure, weight, and blood glucose. The preferred features were ability to access medical checkup results, health information content provision, consultation record inquiry, and teleconsultation. The worker-centered PHR app collected data on, among others, life logs, vital signs, and medical checkup results; offered healthcare services such as reservation and teleconsultation; and provided occupational safety and health information through material safety data sheet search and health questionnaires. The app reflected improvements in user convenience and app usability proposed by 19 participants (seven healthcare professionals and 12 end users) in the usability evaluation. The After Scenario Questionnaire (ASQ) was evaluated at 5.90 (± 0.34) out of 7, and the System Usability Scale (SUS) was evaluated at 88.7 (± 4.83) out of 100.

Conclusions:

The worker-centered PHR app integrates workers’ health information from different institutions and provides a variety of healthcare services from linked institutions through workers’ shared PHR. This app is expected to increase workers’ autonomy over their health information and support medical personnel’s decision-making regarding workers’ health in the workplace. Particularly, the app will provide solutions for current major PHR challenges, and its design, which considers the user's perspective, satisfies the prerequisites for its utilization in occupational health.