Co-creation of strategies and interventions to improve mobile-linked point-of-care diagnostics user experience in the South African context : nominal group technique

Abstract

User experiences are crucial for the sustainable development and implementation of mobile-linked point-of-care diagnostic technologies. The Nominal Group Technique (NGT) engages stakeholders to co-create strategies that improve the uptake of these technologies in community healthcare settings, particularly in disease-burdened and resource-limited contexts like South Africa. Stakeholders provide insights from social, economic, technological, and medical perspectives. The NGT was used at the REASSURED Diagnostics Symposium workshop, conducted in two phases: identifying potential barriers and developing strategies to address them. Data were collected via Google Forms and thematically analyzed, with themes ranked using a Likert scale from 1 (very low priority) to 7 (highest priority). Key challenges affecting user experiences included psychological issues, turnaround time, and connectivity. Top strategies to mitigate these challenges were health education and offline-capable technology. The NGT workshop facilitated the co-creation of practical strategies to enhance mobile-linked point-of-care diagnostics user experiences in South African healthcare settings.