A process for developing an e-health standards selection method artefact using design science research

Abstract

The use of design science research (DSR) as a paradigm of choice among information systems (IS) researchers is growing. While there is an apparent increase in the number of DSR artefacts of the method form, very few research publications provide details of the process followed to create such method artefacts in and of itself. Even rarer is the use of the DSR paradigm in e-health research. In this paper, we present the process followed to develop a DSR method artefact, called the standards selection method for e-health interoperability (SMeHI). SMeHI is a generic method that guides the selection of e-health standards to support interoperability between healthcare IS. The development of the method was motivated by the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) call in 2014 for guidance to lower and middle income countries, many of which are African countries, on how to decide on standards to adopt at national level.