Analysing Social Interaction and Usability of Medical Informatics: the Case of the Aristophanes System

Electronic Patient Record Systems (EPRS) hold an exceptional position in the field of Medical Informatics. The aim of such systems is to replace the traditional paper-based patient recording, offering at the same time a set of advanced data exchange functionalities modern computers and networks can offer. ARISTOPHANES is a flexible and efficient EPRS, designed to serve surgery wards. This paper focuses on the analysis of certain social and ethical factors that must be taken into account when designing EPRS from an end-user’s point of view. Furthermore the paper aims at demonstrating the methods used by the ARISTOPHANES system to cover usability and human-computer interaction aspects.