Making instructions for home diagnostic tests: How useful is a toolkit?

We have been exploring the needs of the users of the toolkit, and obtaining suggestions for additions and improvements to the guidance and resources.

We talked to academics, professionals, practitioners from pharmacy, healthcare and information design to better understand the ways in which the toolkit might be used in contexts beyond the focus of the initial research, how additional guidance and resources might benefit the communities our interviewees work with.

Our discussions strongly suggest that the user centred approach and clear skeletal framework of the guidance and toolkit provides coherence to the resources. The emphasis placed on self and POC test users was a particularly well-received element of the guidance and toolkit, demonstrating how information design for healthcare created consulting evidence-based resources which are compiled by information design specialists and academics, can lead to a positive impact for users of self and POC test instructions (and other healthcare).

We are continuing to work with industry manufacturers to apply our approach to existing tests.

This work was funded through the University of Reading AHRC IAA (Impact Acceleration Award).