The biggest challenges are the social ones: workshop report from EICS4Med 2011

EICS4Med was held in conjunction with EICS2011 in Pisa. Many challenges to designing innovative healthcare applications where identified, including the tendency to design conservatively to avoid patient harm and the difficulties of establishing rich communications between clinicians and engineers. In considering the timescales for developments, the group concluded that technical developments are more easily achieved than the equally essential cultural changes, such that which errors are accepted and regarded as learning opportunities, and investment is directed toward the design of safer, more usable systems.