. 2021 Jul 16;8(7):602. doi: 10.3390/children8070602

Table 1.

Adapted DT model as the methodological basis of this study [15].

Step	Aim of the DT-Step	Study Methodology
Needs Assessment
1. Empathy ¹	This step is characterized by understanding how PPC professionals exchange information about patients. The focus here is the needs of PPC professionals in terms of sending and receiving information.	➔ Interviews Inquiring about the current situation and the needs for intersectoral information exchange
2. Define	In this step, it is crucial to capture how the ECHR should be designed, who the development is relevant to, which framework conditions influence the ECHR, and which target state should be achieved from the users’ perspective.	➔ Analysis + User Stories Investigate who is sharing case-related information, when, through what media, and what users desire from an ECHR. The analysis was oriented to the UTAUT. The resulting needs were formulated as user stories (e.g., “As a physician, I would like to have an overview of the current medication in order to have a direct overview in case of an emergency admission to the ward”).
3. Ideate	This step focuses on idea generation to produce innovative solutions for PPC professionals.	➔ Brainstorming Group discussion regarding the ECHR’s technical implementation and content design.
Conceptualization
4. Prototype	Prototyping helps generate a demonstrative solution that can appeal to PPC professionals without heavily investing their money or time. Discussions and ideas are substantiated, and misunderstandings can be reduced.	➔ Designing Prototypes Preparation of mock-ups based on the user stories.
5. Test ¹	This step serves the following purposes: (a) inspiration for the research and development team, (b) inspiration for the users, and (c) evaluation of the criteria that were considered to develop the prototype.	➔ Focus Group Discussions (FGs) Presentation of the mock-ups during discussions with professionals, guided by specific questions. In the FGs, personas, a patient journey map, and a stakeholder map were used to encourage creativity among participants.
6. Iteration	Here, steps 1–4 were repeated to reiterate the already specified needs as a basis for software programming.	➔ Adaption of the Prototypes FGs were analyzed and the needs verbalized as user stories to understand and define additional user needs. The existing prototypes were adapted by the research and development team after they brainstormed possible solutions.

¹ Steps requiring the active inclusion and interviewing of PPC professionals.