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Health information coding is an important issue in the field of health communication. It is a complex and widespread activity and constitutes the premises for hospitals’ correct reimbursement and epidemiological statistics. Furthermore,
this topic is crucial for patient safety and assuring the continuity of care as long
as it involves the transmission of accurate information to general practitioners
and other health care providers. This paper presents an ongoing research project conducted in collaboration with Ente Ospedaliero Cantonale (EO C) in Ticino,Switzerland. The goals of the study are (a) to analyze the practice of the coders
in order to elicit its critical factors, (b) starting from the results of (a) and assuming
the potential of automation in enhancing collaborative tasks, to evaluate possible strategies to support this practice with a technological intervention (is it possible to reduce time, costs and errors?).
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The methodology mainly uses qualitative methods, in particular ethnography of the workplaces. In the ethnographic study we elicited 6 main problematic issues in the EO C process, namely
1) lengthy time or inaccuracy for first redaction of medical records (MR s), 2)lengthy time for first review of MR s 3) lengthy time for final validation of MR s,4) double receiver of the MR s (conflicting scopes of the same communication
channel and message structuring), 5) difficult interpretation of MR s, 6) double scope of the coding process (statistical and economic). In conclusion, the paper discusses our results, their relevance for designing technological interventions,strategies of improvement, alongside supporting further research developments
and challenges.
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