Um estudo sobre a participação do usuário final no ciclo de vida de desenvolvimento de aplicações de saúde: da análise do estado da arte à proposição de boas práticas de elicitação de requisitos utilizando o padrão arquétipo OpenEHR

Abstract

Health Information Systems (HIS) play a fundamental role in society by providing a solid technological foundation for collecting, storing, processing, and making decisions in the healthcare sector. Due to the significant increase in software solutions and the limitations arising from the complexities of the healthcare domain, it is essential to include end users in the software development lifecycle. Among the processes in this lifecycle, the requirements elicitation phase plays a key role, as it is during this phase that users’ needs and objectives are identified and understood. This requires the use of techniques that ensure a more effective understanding of user needs and meet their expectations. The OpenEHR standard, for example, offers a robust framework for modeling and representing clinical information, allowing user requirements to be captured, which enables the development of software systems that meet the specific needs of healthcare professionals and patients. Thus, this study aims to seek evidence in the state of the art and practice regarding the phases of the development process in which healthcare professionals are involved and the requirements elicitation techniques present in the healthcare application development lifecycle. This work also conducted a study with healthcare professionals and requirements engineers to analyze whether domain expertise specified through the OpenEHR archetype can be useful in representing the necessary requirements for developing healthcare applications. Through a thematic analysis of responses obtained from interviews and an online survey, challenges and limitations faced with current applications were identified. By subjecting the collected data to statistical analyses, such as Cronbach’s Alpha, ANOVA, and Spearman’s correlation, it was confirmed that the low involvement of healthcare professionals in the software lifecycle directly impacts the lack of adaptation of these tools to their routines, as they do not reflect their real needs. Considering the perspectives of requirements engineers, the study highlighted the importance of closer collaboration between them and domain experts, showing how this interaction can contribute to creating solutions that are more suited to clinical demands and more effective in the long term. Finally, these results support a set of best practices aimed at requirements elicitation and validation, utilizing the OpenEHR archetype’s ability to represent stakeholder scenarios and needs with clarity and a high level of detail. These practices aim to bridge the gap between technical development and clinical needs, promoting a more precise and user-centered alignment.